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To ALICE 


WHO LISTENED TO MY FIRST FAIRY STORIES, 
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 




























































































































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THEY ALL THREE STOOD IN A ROW BEFORE HER 

( Page 26) 



THE TRUE STORY 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


How he was rescued by Three Mortal Children 
in Make Believe Land 


By ANNA ALICE CHAPIN 


With Illustrations and Decorations 


BY ETHEL FRANKLIN BETTS 


NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD &• COMPANY 

1905 


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Copyright , IQ05 

By Dodd, Mead & Company 


Published October, 1905 


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THE UNIVERSITY PRESS * CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



CONTENTS 


Chapter Page 

I The Way It All Began i 

II Make-Believing 7 

III At the Owls’ Inn 19 

IV Mother Goose’s Cottage 31 


V Through the Wonderful Wood 43 

VI How Bab Rescued the Wooden Cow .... 55 

VII M eg’s Journey to Fairyland 67 

VIII The Court of the Fairy Queen 81 

IX Under the Sea of Glass g? 


X A Fish Tea-Party 105 

XI Into the City of the Wicked King 117 

XII Princess Star 129 

XIII “H ARNESS THE REINDEER!” 1 37 

XIV Danger ! 15 1 

XV By the City Wall 163 

XVI Behind the Reindeer 175 

XVII Mother Goose Once More 187 

XVIII At Last igg 































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

They all three stood in a row before her E Pa g e 34] . . . Frontispiece 

The Owl Innkeeper's story C Pa g e 2 3] 38 

Bab and the Sand Man [ Pa g e 5 1 ] 84 

She was surely the Queen of the Fairy Folk [Page 89] .... 120 

“ I don't think I like you,” said the Sea Kobold ; “ you may 

go” [ Pa g e 98] 146 


They were all three back on the nursery hearth rug [Page 206] . 192 











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TTUMPTr DUMPTT sat on a waif , 
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall ; 

All the King's horses and all the King's men 
Could n't put Humpty Dumpty together again . 






















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I 

The // ay It All Began 


























































































































Humpty Dumpty 



CHAPTER I 

The Way It All Began 



HATE eggs ! ” said Meg, and smashed hers 
viciously with a spoon. 

“ There, now, Miss Meg,” exclaimed Nurse, 
reprovingly, “ you ’ll never be able to eat it 
prettily out of the shell now ! ” 

“ I don’t want to eat it prettily,” declared Meg. 
“ I ’m going to mix it up in a mess ! ” 

Bab made a face at hers, and did not even break the shell. 
Dick, being a boy and always hungry, ate his, but grumbled 
all the time. 

“Why do we always have eggs for tea?” demanded Meg. 


“ I hate ’em ! ” 

“ You ought n’t to hate poor Humpty Dumpty ! ” said 
Nurse, smiling and shaking her finger at her. 


3 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Humpty Dumpty !” scoffed Meg. “ So silly ! ” 

“ Nursery rot ! ” cried Dick. 

“Nurse, what an old goose you are ! ” said Bab, eating 
bread and jam as fast as she possibly could. 

From all this you will see just what disagreeable chil- 
dren Dick and Meg and Bab were. If they had not been, 
this story would never have been written, for they would 
not have had to be taught better by being summoned to — 
But that comes later on ! 

Our three children found fault with everything, particu- 
larly their food, and were discontented and quarrelsome most 
of the time. Poor Nurse loved them dearly, but found 
them very trying to take care of, and the children only 
laughed at her mild scoldings, and made fun of the fat 
finger which she shook at them as she sighed, “ My dears, 
my dears ! ” 

They were quite pretty children. Meg had yellow hair, 
Bab black, and Dick brown ; and they looked far too nice 
to be so horrid. And as a matter of fact, they were really, 
down in their hearts, much nicer than they seemed. The 
whole trouble with them was that — and this is a dreadful 
thing to say of any child ! — they would have nothing to do 
with Make Believe Land ! They did not believe in elves 
or goblins or giants or brownies, or anything really impor- 
tant and sensible, and they thought fairy tales silly ! 

“Tell us a story, Nurse,” said Bab, when they had finished 
their tea. But Nurse shook her head. 


4 


THE WAY IT ALL BEGAN 

“ You don’t care for my stories,” she said. “ I only know 
the old ones, about the Fairy Queen — ” 

“ Silly ! ” said Meg. 

“And Santa Claus — ” went on Nurse. 

“ Rubbish ! ” cried Bab. 

“ And Mother Goose — ” Nurse continued. 

“ Stuff and nonsense ! ” exclaimed Dick. 

Nurse looked really very sad and shocked. 

“ My dears, my dears ! ” she said solemnly. “ Some day, 
if you are not careful, you will be sorely punished for the 
things you have said about the friends of all the children 
of the world ! Why, it ’s downright wicked for a child 
not to love the Fairy Queen and Santa Claus and Mother 
Goose ! ” 

“ If there ever was a Fairy Queen,” said Meg, scornfully, 
“she was a disagreeable thing, — turning people into spiders 
and toads and things ! ” 

“ If there ever had been a Santa Claus, he would have been 
an awful bore ! ” remarked Bab. 

“ If there ever could be a Mother Goose,” declared Dick, 
“ she ’d be a regular goose, and no mistake ! ” 

“ Oh, dear ! Oh, dear ! However can you talk so, my 
lambs?” cried poor Nurse. She piled some wood on the fire, 
and cleared away the dishes that were on the nursery table. 
Then, while the children sat on the hearth-rug and chattered, 
she left the room, shaking her head, and muttering : 

“ Oh, dear ! I hope they ’ll never be punished for the 

5 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


dreadful things they say. Poor lambs! Just to think of not 
believing in the Make Believe folk ! ” 

Now, as our three children sat on the rug in front of the 
nursery fire, they all fell asleep ; and a very strange thing hap- 
pened. Whether the events that followed were real or only 
dreamed, they never could know quite surely. But if it was 
all a dream, — if it was all a dream, I say, — there is something 
very odd about it : for they all dreamed the same thing ! 

The first thing that happened was that a hum and buzz 
like that of a great big bumblebee filled the room. Next 
moment a small, anxious voice was exclaiming : 

u At last I Ve found you ! I Ve nearly worried my wings 
off ; I have indeed ! ” 

They all three started up, rubbing their eyes. Just alighting 
on the hearth-rug before them, was a little green sprite, with 
goggle eyes, and gauzy wings like a dragon-fly. 

“ Heavens! ” gasped Meg. “ What in the world is it ? ” 

“ I am the Bizzybuzz,” answered the small creature. “ And 
I have been sent by Mother Goose to summon you all three 
to Make Believe Land ! ” 



6 


II 


Make-Believing 
















CHAPTER II 



Make-Believing 

V HE children rubbed their eyes. What was 
a bizzybuzz ? And Make Believe Land ! 
Mother Goose! Were they dreaming? No, 
they knew they could not be dreaming, for 
they would never dream such nonsense as this! 

Meanwhile the sprite stood on the hearth-rug, his slender 
wings still whirring faintly, and his goggle eyes quite anxious. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” he exclaimed at last. “ You really are slow 
about starting, you know! Or” — hopefully — “ have you 
been getting ready, — packing up and all that ? ” 

This was too much for Meg’s practical soul. Besides, she 
was glad to have a chance to vent her ruffled and bewildered 
feelings. 

“ What nonsense!” she said sharply. “You know we 
haven’t moved! How could we have been packing up?” 

9 



HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Why,” exclaimed Bizzybuzz, looking greatly surprised, 
“ do you really have to do things here ? In Make Believe 
Land we have only to imagine we are doing them.” 

“ Rot ! ” blurted Dick, like an explosion. 

“ ‘ Rot ’ ! ” repeated Bizzybuzz, innocently. “ What is 
that?” And Dick felt rather ashamed of himself. 

“ But how do you make believe things?” asked Bab, the 
curious. 

Bizzybuzz looked at her in as pitying a way as he could 
manage, considering the queerness of his eyes. “ Don’t you 
know how to make believe ? ” he asked earnestly. “ And 
you a little girl ! ” 

He almost cried about it. 

The children looked at each other. For the first time 
they were just a wee bit discontented with their sensible 
views. How did it feel, they wondered, to make believe ? 

“ Now,” said Bizzybuzz, “just suppose that you want to 
pack up something to carry away with you on your journey. 
What would you each like to have most ?” 

“ My new jack-knife,” answered Dick. 

“ My pink silk dress,” declared Meg. 

“ Wiggles,” said Bab. 

“ What is Wiggles?” asked Bizzybuzz. 

“ My fox-terrier,” she explained enthusiastically. “ I 
wish he were here now for you to see. He ’s the 
dearest — ” 

“ Oh, it would n’t do at all ! ” cried Bizzybuzz, hastily, 
io 


MAKE-BELIEVING 


“ For if you had him here, how would you make believe that 
you had him ? ” 

This seemed unanswerable. 

“ Now,” went on Bizzybuzz, in a business-like way, “you 
must each pretend that you are carrying what you most want. 
You” — to Meg — “ have a pink dress hanging on your arm. 
Oh, what a pretty pink dress ! It has ribbons and lace and 
ruffles ! It must be very becoming.’’ 

Instinctively Meg crooked her arm and looked at it. 

“ Such a lovely dress ! ” proceeded Bizzybuzz. 

“ I don’t see it,” said Meg, at last. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” sighed Bizzybuzz. “ Are you sure ? ” 

“Yes,” said Meg, “I’m quite sure. I don’t see it at all. 
Do you ? ” 

“ Of course I do! ” said Bizzybuzz. “ Never mind, you ’ll 
see it yourself in time.” Then he turned to Dick. “ Do you 
mind letting me see your jack-knife ? ” he said. “ Thanks ! ” 
He pretended to take something in his hand. “ What a fine 
one ! May I open it ? One — two — three blades ! It 
certainly is a fine jack-knife. Here, take it back again.” 
He seemed to hand the imaginary knife back to Dick. “ Do 
you see it ? ” he demanded anxiously. 

“ N-no,” said Dick, doubtfully. “ I don’t think I do. 
But I’m not quite sure. I feel as though I might see it if 
you kept on making believe long enough.” 

“That’s much better!” exclaimed Bizzybuzz, looking 
pleased. “ And now for you,” he went on, turning to Bab. 

1 1 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

“You have Wiggles in your arms; suppose you put him 
down. Oh, he does n't want to get down, does he ? He 
loves you very much ! See if he 'll come to me. Here, 
doggie, — doggie, — doggie ! ” 

Bab stared hard at the spot where her beloved Wiggles 
was supposed to be. For a moment she did really seem to 
see his fat white and brown body wriggling ecstatically and 
trying to wag its stump of a tail. 

“ Oh ! " she cried, “ I almost saw him then — almost 
— yes, yes, yes! I quite see him! Oh, Wiggles, dear!" 
And down she went on her knees. 

“ Don’t be so silly ! " said Meg, crossly ; and Wiggles 
disappeared. 

“ Tou '11 learn very quickly," said Bizzybuzz, approvingly, 
“ you, little girl with the dog. But you 'll all learn in time. 
And now we must be off." 

“ Off! " 

“ Yes ; Mother Goose will be growing impatient. Come, 
hurry up ! And don't forget that you are bringing with you 
the jack-knife, and the pink dress, and Wiggles ! " 

“ Bringing things we can't see ! " said Meg, scornfully. 

“ Ah ! But you will see them," said Bizzybuzz. “ I can 
see them now, though they 're not my make-believes ! And 
the moment that you have learned to believe in all the make- 
believe things in Make Believe Land, and love them as you 
should, you 'll find that you have with you the knife and the 
dress and the dog ! Now come ! " 

1 2 


MAKE-BELIEVING 

He spread his wings and flew to the window. Perching 
on the sill, he beckoned to them. 

“ But what does your old Mother Goose want with us ? ” 
asked Bab, hesitating. 

“ She 'll tell you herself,” said Bizzybuzz, and bowed low. 
“ Bless her Majesty’s heart ! ” 

“ Her Majesty ! ” repeated Meg. 

“She is one of the many rulers of Make Believe Land,” 
said Bizzybuzz, bowing again. “ Come, come, come ! You 
really must not delay any longer.” 

He pointed through the open window into the dark outside. 

“ But you don’t expect us to fly ! ” said Dick. 

“I have something waiting for you to fly on ! ” said 
Bizzybuzz, mysteriously. 

“That isn’t right,” said Meg. “You should say ‘on 
which to fly.’ My teacher told me so.” 

Bizzybuzz looked at her disapprovingly. “You really 
are a disagreeable child, are n’t you ? ” he remarked. “ Never 
mind. There is your steed on which to fly ! ” 

He pointed again. The three children could not help 
hurrying to the window to see what it was. 

On the ledge outside was sitting a huge owl. His feathers 
ruffled out and then subsided in the night wind, and his great 
eyes were like moons. He looked tremendously wise. 

“ O-o-oh ! ” cried Bab, drawing back, “ I ’m afraid of 
owls ! ” 

“Nonsense! Don’t be so silly!” said Bizzybuzz, — for 
13 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


it was his turn to be scornful. “ Come, climb on ! Or no — 
I suppose you think you are too big ! Well, shut your eyes! 

They obeyed, and suddenly felt themselves lifted quickly 
through the air and deposited upon a nest of soft, warm 
feathers. 

“ All right ; open your eyes,” said the voice of Bizzybuzz. 
“ We ’re off! ” 

Everything was quite dark when they opened their eyes, 
but looking up they could see the stars and a driving shoal of 
faintly shining clouds. Beneath them was a motion as soft 
and steady as the rocking of a great cradle ; they were riding 
on the owl ! 

Above them flew Bizzybuzz, and they noticed that he 
was quite transparent against the least bit of light, and that 
they could see the stars through him very clearly. 

“ Go to sleep if you like,” he told them, “ for the jour- 
ney is a long one.” Then he added something the children 
did not understand at the time : “ I came to your country in 
less than a second, but it will take a longer time to carry you 
to Make Believe Land ! ” 

The children were far too excited to sleep. They leaned 
over the owl’s back to catch glimpses of the world underneath, 
and more than once they nearly fell. It was a thrilling ride ! 
Sometimes they flew low down, through forests dense and 
fragrant and black ; then up, up, into the clouds and star- 
light ; then straight on, over shining water, and cities full of 
twinkling yellow lights, — on — on — on ! 

T 4 


MAKE-BELIEVING 


Often they passed other birds, even a bat or two, and 
strange, shimmering insects of monstrous size, and big, soft, 
stupid, graceful moths with wings of gray or green. The air 
seemed full of sounds, — the whirr of wings, the call of one 
flying thing to another, the rustling stir of the tree-tops, the 
low murmur of the wind, the laughing noise of running 
water underneath. Never had their ears been so busy. 

“ Greeting, brother! ” called Bizzybuzz to a big white owl 
that was flapping along beside them. But the owl said never 
a word. 

“ He will not speak,” explained Bizzybuzz, flitting down to 
whisper, “ because he is known as the wisest of all owls, and 
he is afraid that if he talks people will find out that he 
is n’t ! ” 

“ Has the white owl anyone on his back ?” asked Bab. 

“ Look ! ” said Bizzybuzz, shooting up in the air once 
more. “ He is still travelling beside us. He, like ourselves, 
is flying in the Wind Channel of Echoes. It is the best at 
this hour of the night.” 

They stood up to look. The white owl wore a collar of 
glittering silver, and on his back was sitting a wee old woman 
dressed all in w'hite. 

“ She is the Witch of Silence,” said Bizzybuzz. “ She is 
very, very wise. She lives in a hollow tree, and the white 
owl sits outside and meditates. She is on her way now to the 
North Star, where there is a very learned oracle who can 
teach her some new spells.” 


*5 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“How will she get to the North Star?” asked Dick. 

“ She will ride along the Wind Channel of Echoes until 
she reaches the North Star’s Ladder of Light, and then climb 
up, step by step. It will take her a hundred years.” 

“ What in the world do you mean by Wind Channels and 
Ladders of Light?” demanded Meg, crossly. 

“You have roads on the ground in your country,” said 
Bizzybuzz. “ We have roads in the air. Isn’t that quite 
simple ? We have the Wind Channel of Echoes and the 
Tree-Top Pathway and the Road of Clouds for times of 
storm; and the Moon-Wake when we want to cross the 
water and are too tired to fly. Sometimes we lose our way 
and have a dreadful time getting to shelter before daylight ! 
As for the Ladder of Light, every star has a ladder leading 
straight up to it if only you can find it. The North Star is 
the hardest of all to reach, for it is so very far and cold, and 
the people there will receive only witches or air-spirits. 
They are very exclusive! The Witch of Silence will be wel- 
come. She and the oracle will sit opposite each other for 
two hundred and seventy years, and then she will be truly 
wise, so she will climb down the Ladder of Light and go 
into her hollow tree again.” 

The white owl with the witch suddenly swerved off 
toward the right, and flapped away into the mists. 

“ Now I wonder why he did that ! ” murmured Bizzy- 
buzz, anxiously. “ He must have had a reason. They ’ve 
gone toward the Road of Clouds. That’s it ! ” he exclaimed; 

16 


MAKE-BELIEVING 


“ there ’s a storm coming up ! That ’s the reason ! Hear the 
thunder ! Fly, Moon-Eyes, fly ! ” And he buzzed around 
their owl’s head excitedly. “ Fly as you never flew before, 
and give the signal for ‘ Way for the owl-carriers ! 5 ” 

The owl gave a long, weird call, “ Too-hoo-hoo-hoo- 
00-00 ! ” that sounded along the Wind Channel of Echoes in 
a thousand different tones. Other cries answered it, — some 
near, some far ; and the thunder growled louder and louder. 

“ Everyone is going toward the Owls’ Inn,” cried Bizzy- 
buzz. ‘‘Turn in there, Moon-Eyes; the storm is going to be 
a sharp one ! ” 

The owl swept to the left, and dropped suddenly to earth. 
Bizzybuzz helped the children off, and they found themselves 
on a rocky ledge in the side of a cliff. Just before them was 
a dark cave or hole in the cliff, in the depths of which were 
glowing many owl-eyes. 

“ Hurry in ! ” ordered Bizzybuzz. And they all, includ- 
ing the owl, entered the cave. 

“ This,” declared their Goblin friend, “ is the hostelry 
which is known to every flying thing of every land, and 
which has been here since eight thousand years before the 
beginning of the world : it is the famous Owls’ Inn.” 



1 7 







































































• t 





















At the Owls ’ Inn 




- 

























CHAPTER III 


At the Owls' Inn 



^ HE storm broke, sounding like a cannon-ball 
rolling against a thousand giant ninepins. 
The rain gushed out of the sky like water 
from a trough, the winds screamed, and the 
lightning flashed in forks and zigzags of 
green and gold and purple and diamond-white against the 
big banks of clouds. 

The children would have been frightened at any other 
time, but now the storm seemed only part of the excitement 
and queerness of everything. It went with the owls and the 
wind channels, and the rest of the strange things with which 
they had come in contact for the first time. 

Bizzybuzz took a tiny lantern from somewhere in his 
laced-up doublet, and set it on the ground. It seemed to 
light itself instantly, giving out greenish blue rays. 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Fire from the marshes/’ he explained. “ Goblin-fire ! 
Is n’t it pretty ? ” 

The children looked about them, staring at the occupants 
of the Owls’ Inn with great curiosity. 

“This is the Owl Innkeeper, known as the Tail-less 
One,” declared Bizzybuzz, with a wave of his hand. 

The Owl Innkeeper bowed politely, though very solemnly. 
He was a large, fine owl, but he had no tail-feathers at all. 

“ How did he lose them ?” asked Bab, in a whisper. 

“ He ’ll tell you before long,” answered Bizzybuzz. “ He 
always does.” 

“What are all these owls?” asked Meg. 

“ Carriers,” said Bizzybuzz. “ The owls are the chief 
carriers, — steeds, — conveyances, — what you like, — for the 
Make Believe People. Of course some sprites use bats or 
smaller birds, and the very little elves have a liking for moths. 
But most of us Make-Believers prefer the owls. They are 
the biggest and strongest and most steady, and then they are 
very patient, and so wise ! ” 

“ I ’d like to talk to our owl,” said Bab. “ He looks 
kind.” 

“Oh, he is,” said Bizzybuzz, “and wise. Dear, dear! 
How very wise he is, to be sure ! ” 

The owls talked little, but looked volumes. They sat 
around in rows, staring unblinkingly with their great shining 
eyes. Every minute a new one would flap heavily into the 
cave, settle down, and begin to stare like the others. 


22 


AT THE OWLS’ INN 

“ Did I ever tell any of you how I lost my tail-feathers ? ” 
asked the Owl Innkeeper, at last, in a sad deep voice. 

“ All of us!” said the owls, in a chorus. 

“ No, no ! ” cried Bab, eagerly, “ not all! We haven’t 
heard it.” 

“Then listen,” said the Owl Innkeeper, solemnly. “For 
it is my best story, though very painful to me.” 

He settled himself down in the centre of the cave, and 
blinked three times, by way of a preface. 

“ It is about ghosts,” he began. 

“ Ghosts! ” repeated Bab, with a laugh. 

“ Ghosts ! ” exclaimed Meg, scornfully. 

“ Did you ever see a ghost ? ” asked Dick. 

“ Did I ever see a ghost ? ” said the Owl Innkeeper. 
“My eyes and feathers! Yes! Hundreds, thousands of 
them. That is one of the very easiest things we owls do. 
We can see all sorts of things that you can’t, because we can 
see in the dark. Cats do the same, and bats. And the 
dark is always full of ghosts. If you could see in the dark, 
you would see ghosts too ! ” 

“Yes, — because if we could see in the dark, we’d be 
owls or cats or bats ourselves!” laughed Meg. 

“ The owls,” explained their feathered friend, solemnly, 
“ have no sense of humor, so that is lost on me.” 

“Oh, go on, please ! ” urged Bab, who was really anxious 
to hear the ghost-story. 

“ Well,” proceeded the owl, “ I once lived in a yew-tree 

23 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


near an old house, — oh, a very old house! It was peopled 
only by ghosts, and a horrid lot they were, — ill natured and 
even quite savage sometimes. And they were so strong, 
through living so many hundreds of years undisturbed, that 
they were really almost quite solid, like real people. 

“ Well, one day the old place was bought by a young 
man, who laughed when they told him that it was haunted. 
I did n’t laugh. I felt quite worried, for I like young people 
(when they don’t make too much noise in the daytime), 
and I did not know what those horrid ghosts would do to that 
poor lad. So, the night he moved in, I moved in too; that 
is, I sat on the window-sill, where I could see everything 
that went on inside. 

“ Dinner was served by a man-servant, and there were 
lights and shiny things on the table, and wine, and a smell 
of cooked food, and queer enough it did seem, to be sure ! 
Suddenly, just as the young man was helping himself to the 
roast, in walked one of the head ghosts, — an old fellow in 
armour he was, with a sinfully ugly face. 

“ ‘ I always did like beef,’ said he, as bold as brass, ‘ so I ’ll 
take some ! ’ and he picked the roast off the silver platter the 
man was holding, and began to eat it — right in his fingers ! 

“ The servant’s eyes bulged out of his head, and I could 
see his knees giving way. Suddenly down went the silver 
platter, and out of the house he went, and the other servants 
after him. I knew they were gone for good ! But my young 
friend at the table looked at his visitor quite calmly. 

2 4 


AT THE OWLS’ INN 


“ ‘ This is very good in you/ he said. ‘ I was feeling a bit 
lonely this evening, all by myself. What will you have to 
drink?’ 

“ Well, they ate and drank together amiably enough for a 
while, but by and by the other ghosts began to come in by 
twos and threes, and I soon saw there was bound to be trouble. 

“ ‘ Now, young man/ said the old fellow in armour, when 
he had about thirty of his own kind to back him up. ‘We 
want you to get out. We have owned this house for three 
hundred and fifty-three years, two months, four days, five 
hours, seventeen minutes, and half a second. Now, we don’t 
propose to have you here, disturbing us. Get out ! ’ 

That I will not!’ said the young man, with a good show 
of spirit. * It ’s you who will get out, you old wretch — ’ 

“ Then the ghosts set upon him, all of them at once, and 
I was sure they would smother him or tear him limb from 
limb. So into the room I flew, tu-whooing at the top of my 
lungs. The ghosts all scattered and stood still at the sound, 
for they all respect an owl. You know an owl’s feather is the 
only thing that will make a ghost entirely alive again. 

“ The young man got up from the floor panting. I settled 
down on the dinner-table and addressed the room. I won’t 
repeat to you my discourse, but it was an admirable one. I 
have often wished that it might be published. I tried to in- 
duce those ghosts to let the boy alone ; but they were firm and 
very angry, and after a while they all flew at him again — in 
spite of everything I had said ! I flapped my way into the 

25 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

thick of the fight, and tried to beat and peck them off. Then, 
growing quite desperate, I cried, ‘ If you will go away, I will 
give a feather to the leader/ 

“ That stopped them for a bit, and I let the armoured 
ghost pull out a tail-feather. Then others came around me 
and demanded feathers, and, one by one, they pulled and 
pulled until I was quite tail-less ! 

“ The old leader became human first. And he said, 
looking longingly at the young man, ‘ Now that we ’re all 
men together, I ’d dearly love to finish that upstart ! ’ 

“ ‘ I appeal to your honour as a gentleman and a ghost ! ’ 
I cried ; though I trembled in my remaining feathers, for, to 
tell the truth, he did not look overburdened either with hon- 
our or gentlemanliness. But he shook his head regretfully, 
and then they all departed together and went to a tailor- 
shop, I suppose, to buy themselves some up-to-date clothes. 

“‘Well/ said the young man to me, ‘I’m sure I’m 
tremendously obliged to you, and I wish I could do something 
for you in return. But I can’t give you back your tail- 
feathers, and I don’t suppose it would be any use to even offer 
you a drink ! You ’ve really done me a great service.’ 

“ ‘ Don’t mention it, sir ! ’ replied I, with a flourish. But 
just then I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the big 
mirror, and I blushed all over my beak and claws. How- 
ever, I left the room slowly and with as much dignity as 
I could, and I heard the young man suppress a giggle as I 
went. I really could not blame him ! 

26 


AT THE OWLS’ INN 


“ And that,” concluded the Owl Innkeeper, sadly and im- 
pressively, “is the true story of how I lost my tail-feathers! ” 

“ I think he was horrid to let you give up your tail- 
feathers just to save him ! ” exclaimed Bab, indignantly. 

“ I think myself,” said the owl, “that he might have — 
well — protested.” 

“ Hark ! ” said Meg. They noticed for the first time 
that the noise of wind and rain and thunder had died down. 

“ The storm is over,” announced one of the owls at the 
door. “ Come, brothers, it is high time to be off! ” 

The cave was filled with the sound of rushing wings, and 
a minute later the three children found themselves again 
mounting their feathered steed. 

“ Good-bye, good-bye ! ” called the Owl Innkeeper, from 
the entrance of the cave. “ May you keep all your feathers 
until you are old, and always have plenty of mice for supper ! ” 
— which, after all, was the best sort of a wish he knew how 
to make ! 

This time they were so tired that they fell asleep at once, 
with the fresh, damp winds blowing over them. And they 
seemed to have but just closed their eyes when Bizzybuzz 
waked them. As they stared about them sleepily, the air 
seemed full of a shining silver light. 

“ Look ! ” said Bizzybuzz, pointing. “ Look your last 
upon your own country for some time to come, for we have 
passed over the border, and are now in Make Believe Land.” 

Stretching far, far away — to the very edge of the world, 
27 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


it seemed — lay a country which in this clear pale light 
looked dark and dull and ugly. There were mountains there, 
but in the distance they seemed to be nothing but a lot of 
stupid little bumps. 

“That is your own country, — what, some people call the 
Real World,” said Bizzybuzz. “ Now look beneath you ! ” 

Beneath them were clouds of pink and gold and sky-blue 
and violet and pale green. Here and there a tall tower shot 
up, shining through the rainbow colours. In other places 
there was the gleam of silver water. 

“ That is part of Make Believe Land,” said Bizzybuzz, 
“ and a very important part, too : the City of Dreams. Some 
day you shall go there, if you like, and see the Garden of 
Good Dreams and the Forest of Nightmares. That city is 
on the dividing line between the Real World and Make 
Believe Land. See where the coloured clouds begin ! First 
they are gray and dull, — that is because they are still on the 
side of the Real World ; then they grow bright and lovely, for 
they are floating, as we are, over the City of Dreams.” 

The owl flew on faster and faster. All sorts of wonderful 
things glimmered past beneath : forests of silver trees with fruit 
of gold, meadows with jewels for flowers, green woodland places 
from which the softest magical music rose forever, dreamy 
gardens, and marvellous rivers ; and still on and on they went. 

“Ah ! ” exclaimed Bizzybuzz, and his voice sounded quite 
frightened. “ Look well now, for this is a place which you 
will hear of very soon again : this is the Sea of Glass ! ” 

28 


AT THE OWLS’ INN 

The Sea of Glass was broad and gleaming. There was 
something very queer about its motionless, shiny surface. It 
was still a little distance away, but just under them was a city 
built entirely of some bright red stuff. It glittered scarlet in 
the soft light. 

“ What is this place under us? ” asked Dick. 

“ That,” said Bizzybuzz, in a shuddering whisper, “ is the 
terrible Red City, — the City of the Wicked King ! ” 

They wanted to ask more about it, but there were too 
many things at which to look. I could not even try to de- 
scribe to you that wonderful flight over Make Believe Land. 
The children never forgot it, and among their many strange 
adventures it really made the greatest impression, — perhaps 
because it was the first. 

At last they found themselves flying over a wooded country, 
where there were quaint little houses and funny animals, — 
and even groups of people, all in Kate Greenaway costumes. 
It seemed homelike and commonplace, and really comforting 
after all the mists and towers and rivers and seas they had 
seen, and they asked eagerly, “ What is this place ? ” 

“This,” answered their guide, “is Mother Goose’s own 
country, and you are at your journey’s end.” 



29 







































































































































. 




■ 











































IV 


Mother Goose's Cottage 









































































































































































































































































































* V 


















































■ 

















CHAPTER IV 



Mother Goose's Cottage 

HE owl dropped to the earth like a piece of 
lead, and the three children, clambering off*, 
found themselves in a little forest glade in 
front of a cottage, — a cottage that was small 
and quaint and pretty, with old-fashioned lat- 
ticed windows, and a trim gay garden in front. Bizzybuzz 
went to the door, and rapped upon it with his queer wee 
hand, crying, “ Open, Mother, open ! I have brought you 
the three mortal children whom you sent me to get ! ” 

“You have been a long time on your journey,” said a 
voice within. “ Enter, all ! ” and the door opened. 

There stood a very, very old woman, tall but bent, leaning 
on a stick, and dressed as the old picture-books always show 
Mother Goose. She wore a flowered gown, and a ruffled cap 

33 


3 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


under a tall, black sugar-loaf hat, a white kerchief, and mits. 
Her shoes had big buckles and high heels, and she wore a 
pretty apron with pockets in it. Her hair was very white, 
and her face was the sweetest that the children had ever seen, 
but just now she looked rather stern. At her side stood an 
enormous, snow-white goose. 

“ Enter,” she said again ; and they all went into the cot- 
tage, — except the owl, who had gone to sleep outside. 

Inside everything was so clean and bright that it looked 
as though it must be a brand-new doll-house. Mother Goose 
was evidently a very neat, even a fussy old lady ; for each little 
thing was in place, and scoured, and polished, and rubbed, and 
scrubbed, and brushed, and cleaned, and dusted, and washed, 
and generally taken care of, until it shone. Mother Goose’s 
feather duster hung on the wall, her gleaming kettle was boil- 
ing busily, and her big china teapot and funny old-fashioned 
cups were so clean that they caught the light and glittered 
like something much finer than mere china. In the smoky 
little fireplace was a crane, with a pot hanging on it ; a pair 
of quaint old bellows were fastened to a peg near by. In the 
little latticed windows were fresh white muslin curtains and 
some pots of flowers. Overhead a little bird sang gaily in a 
cage. 

“ Stand in a row,” commanded Mother Goose. They all 
obeyed, feeling a tiny bit afraid. She sat down with her foot 
on a footstool, put on her spectacles and gazed at them. 

“ And now,” she said, very solemnly and reproachfully, 
34 


MOTHER GOOSE’S COTTAGE 

“ what have you to say for yourselves, — three little mortal 
children who have never believed in ME ? ” 

For a moment they were silent, not knowing what to say ; 
then Dick exclaimed : “ Gracious ! Are you really real, 

after all ? ” 

“ I am one of the queens of Make Believe Land/’ 
answered Mother Goose, looking at him very steadily out of 
her bright dark eyes, “ and my kingdom stretches far, far 
into the Real World. All the children of the world are my 
rightful subjects and entitled to my protection. But you — 
you are outlaws ! You have committed the crime of Unbelief 
and you must suffer ! That is why you have been brought to 
Make Believe Land.” 

The three children were more frightened than ever. 
What would their punishment be ? Then Bab looked up 
into Mother Goose's face, and saw the really kind look that 
was shining in her eyes, back of the sternness. Suddenly Bab 
felt that she loved her, and she cried out impulsively, “ Oh, 
I 'm glad you 're real, after all ! " 

Mother Goose smiled the loveliest sort of a smile. 

“ You are a dear little girl,'' she said, “ and you shall play 
with my goose if you want to ! ” Then she looked stern 
again. “Just the same,” she added, “you as well as the 
others must learn your lesson and be punished. All this time 
you have not believed in me, nor loved me, nor been my little 
girTfso you most be punished as severely as the rest.” 

“What are you going to do to us?” demanded Meg, defiantly. 
35 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ A little while ago,” said Mother Goose, “you. — little 
girl with the fair hair — said unkind things about the Fairy 
Queen. You will have to travel all by yourself to Fairyland, 
and serve the Queen faithfully for a year or a day, or until 
you do her so great a service that she sets you free of her own 
accord.” 

Meg stamped her foot. 

“ I won’t go,” she declared. “ Fairies are silly, and there 
are n’t any, anyway ! ” 

Bizzybuzz fell on his face, trembling. 

“ Treason ! ” he squeaked. “ Heresy ! Oh, Lady Queen, 
dear Mother Goose ! Do not kill her for saying such a ter- 
rible thing in Make Believe Land ! ” 

“ No,” said Mother Goose, gravely, “ I will not kill her, 
but her journey must be just ten times harder for every word 
of that sort that she has ever said.” 

Then she turned to Bab. 

“You called Santa Claus a Bore!” she said. “Santa 
Claus ! Well, little lady, you will have to journey to his 
dwelling-place, and whatever may happen to you, you will 
not be bored ! And there you must stay until he sets you 
free, which he can only do after you have been of some great 
service to him.” 

Bab hung her head and looked almost ready to cry. 

“And you,” said Mother Goose, still more sternly, turn- 
ing to Dick, — “you laughed at ME ! ” 

“Yes, I did!” said little Dick, stoutly. 

3b 


“ But I don’t 


MOTHER GOOSE’ S COTTAGE 


see why that was so very dreadful. I ’d never seen you 
then, you see, and how could I know that you were real ? I 
should n’t laugh at you now, of course,” he added politely. 

“ Would n’t you ? That is very nice of you ! ” said 
Mother Goose ; and her eyes twinkled. “ Well, Master 
Dick, at least you are honest and straightforward, and I think 
that some day we may be friends, — even though I am ‘ a 
regular old goose, and no mistake ! ’ ” 

Dick reddened, but grinned at the same time. 

“That’s what I said,” he admitted. “But I’m sure I 
beg your pardon ! ” 

“Now pay close attention,” said Mother Goose, growing 
very serious indeed. “ I am in great trouble, and your task, 
because you laughed at me, is to serve me, and help me out 
of all my worries. My dear son, Humpty Dumpty, has been 
a prisoner in the city of the Wicked King for three hundred 
and three years. They have turned him into an egg, and they 
keep him sitting up on the city wall from one century’s end 
to another.” 

“ Why do they do that ? ’’asked Dick. 

“ It ’s a long, sad story,” answered Mother Goose, with a 
sigh. “ All you need know now is that he was angry with 
my poor Humpty Dumpty, and turned him into an egg. 
And my son has to spend all his time balancing himself on 
that wall, and if he should ever fall he would be broken ! 
You don’t know how afraid I am that some day he will fall 
and be broken ! ” And a tear ran down Mother Goose’s nose. 


37 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Worst of all,” she said with a choke, “ the people come 
out and laugh at him ! ” 

“Well, that’s a shame,” said Dick, sympathetically. “It 
must be pretty unpleasant to balance yourself on a wall for 
three hundred and three years, especially if you are an egg ! ” 
“You,” continued Mother Goose, “must rescue him ! ” 

“ I ! Rescue him ! ” exclaimed Dick. “ But how ? ” 
“You’re a boy,” said Mother Goose, “and I’ve heard 
you are supposed to be bright. You ought to be able to 
think of a way. And anyway, it’s just possible” — she 
paused and looked from one to the other — “ it ’s just possible 
that your sisters will be able to help you later. They have 
their own work to do first, but perhaps when that is done they 
will find time to help you. In any case, what you must re- 
member is that the rescue of Humpty Dumpty is the thing 
which I wish more than anything else. Now go, all of you, 
and let me see how well you can obey orders and do your 
duty. Remember, you must not forget what each of you has 
been sent for, you must hurry as fast as you can, and you must 
not stop on the way. Good-bye, mortal children ; I shall be 
as glad as you when you are all safe back again ! ” 

She waved her stick, and they all hurried out of the 
cottage. While Bizzybuzz woke up the owl, they looked 
back into the room they had just left. Mother Goose was 
standing there with her big white goose. As they looked, 
she smiled, — such a beautiful, sweet, kindly smile! And 
somehow they knew then that nothing very terrible was 

38 



THE OWL-INNKEEPER’S STORY 






MOTHER GOOSE’S COTTAGE 

going to happen to them in Make Believe Land. Then the 
cottage door closed, and Bizzybuzz told them to climb on 
the owl again. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” sighed Bab. “ And now where to ? ” 

“We are going to lunch with Moon-Eyes first, ,, said 
Bizzybuzz. “Then I shall lead you to the Wonderful Wood, 
and see you all three off on your journeys.” 

Another second and they were once more speeding through 
the air. This time the flight was a short one, for they only 
crossed the little glade, and went about a hundred feet down 
a sort of avenue that the forest trees had made, to a huge oak- 
tree. It was the biggest tree that they had ever seen, and 
Bizzybuzz explained that the wild things that lived in it — 
Moon-Eyes among others — were very proud of its size and 
beauty. Into its topmost branches flew the great owl, ancT~” 
alighted on a small bough just under a big hole in the trunk. 
And there at the entrance of the hole was sitting a very pretty 
silver-gray owl, much smaller than the carriers. She moved 
her wings softly up and down, and said, “ How do you do ?” 
most politely. 

Bizzybuzz cried, “ Let me present you to the Lady Gray- 
Wing !” and bowed low to their hostess, — for evidently this 
was Moon-Eyes' wife. 

Lady Gray-Wing invited them to enter, and they all went 
into the hole in the oak-tree, and sat down around the lunch 
that the pretty gray owl had prepared for them. 

They had acorns, and nuts, and blackberries, and queer, 
39 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


good herbs, and raw mushrooms, and sorrel, and rain-water 
served in big, silvery plantain leaves. Really everything 
tasted better than the meals that they had been used to eating 
at home. These funny woodsy things seemed much nicer 
than their regular suppers of eggs and jam and bread and 
milk, and they ate as much as they dared without being rude 
or greedy. Gray-Wing explained rather timidly that she had 
not given them mice for lunch, because she understood that 
mortals did not care for them much. 

There was only one other guest, — a very merry and frisky 
red squirrel, who chattered away all the time they were eating, 
and begged them to come and lunch with him if they should 
ever be in that neighbourhood again. 

And then Moon-Eyes carried them away, and took them 
a long, long distance, over a high rocky hill, and toward an- 
other wood, much deeper and darker and bigger than the one 
they had left. There, at the edge of this forest, their owl 
friend set them down, and bade them good-bye by nodding 
at them solemnly. 

“ You are now,” said Bizzybuzz, “ at the edge of the 
Wonderful Wood. Each of your three ways lies through it.” 

“ Are we all going together ? ” cried Meg, eagerly. 

“ No,” said Bizzybuzz, “ you will not even meet.” 

“ But there is only one path ! ” exclaimed Bab. 

“ In Make Believe Land one path may lead to a great 
many places.” 

“ But if we all go the same way — ” began Dick. 

40 


MOTHER GOOSE’S COTTAGE 


“ You all go by the same path/’ said Bizzybuzz. “ But 
it is not only in Make Believe Land that many people travel 
the same path and all travel alone.” 

A pathway lay before them leading into the Wonderful 
Wood. The three children stood for a moment looking down 
it, and wondering what adventures they were to have there ; 
then they waved good-bye to Bizzybuzz, and ran into the 
wood. 

No sooner were they on .the path, in the shadows of the 
trees, than a strange thing happened. Each seemed to be 
quite alone ! Where were the other two ? They called to 
each other, but not even an echo answered. Only, far behind 
and dying away, each could hear the anxious voice of Bizzybuzz : 

“ Remember ! Be very careful ! Be patient, and never 
forget your errands. You must not forget what each of you 
has been sent for ; you must hurry as fast as you can ; you 
must — not — stop — by the way — ” 

Then — silence. And each was left alone in the Wonder- 
ful Wood ! 



4i 













































1 

































» 



























t 



























V 




Through the 



Wood 




































































































* 












































































































































































































* 






































































































































- 




































































































































CHAPTER V 


Through the Wonderful Wood 



HE moment Bab stepped inside the outer fringe 
of trees she seemed to be in the densest sort of 
a forest. As she looked about her, bewildered, 
she could not even see where she had entered 
it. The trees and bushes seemed to have closed 
in tightly behind her, and vines and creepers covered with 
queer sweet flowers crossed and recrossed the path, and ap- 
peared to be growing denser every second. Then, as she 
glanced ahead, she saw that there was no path at all. She 
was in the very heart of the wildest of woodland tangles. 
How should she find her way out ? And who would point 
out to her the road to Santa Claus’s house ? 


45 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

“ I wish Wiggles were here ! ” sighed Bab. “I’m sure 
there are bears and wolves in this big dark forest, and Wiggles 
could have frightened them away ! ” 

Then she thought of what Bizzybuzz had said in the 
nursery when he was trying to teach them how to make 
believe. 

“ Would n’t it be funny if Wiggles really were with me all 
the time?” she thought ; and aloud she said, “ Here, Wiggles, 
Wiggles, Wiggles ! ” 

But there was no response, and, feeling a little disappointed, 
she walked on through the Wonderful Wood alone. 

It was very still. Not a twig snapped ; not a bird sang in 
the Wonderful Wood. Everything seemed to be asleep. She 
pushed forward through the thickets, saying to herself : “ I 
must find Santa Claus ! I must not forget what Mother Goose 
said ! I must not forget my errand ! ” 

It was hard work, this struggling through the heavy under- 
brush, and once or twice Bab was obliged to rest. But still 
she murmured to herself: “ I must hurry ! I must find Santa 
Claus ! ” 

Suddenly the way became easier and smoother. In a mo- 
ment she came out into a little green dell which was filled 
with music. Looking about her, she saw two little goblins, 
like Bizzybuzz himself, playing on tiny green instruments that 
looked like lutes, and singing. 

She could not make out all the words of their song, but 
the general burden seemed to be something like this : 

46 


THROUGH THE WONDERFUL WOOD 


w Our wings, how sure and fleet ! 
Our voices, oh, how sweet ! 
How kind our hearts and wise ! 
How green our goggle-eyes ! 


“ We are the elves of mirth, 

Most wondrous of the earth ! 

Oh, world ! pay homage meet 
At Klang’s and Tinkle’s feet ! ” 

When they saw Bab, they began to make a series of very 
low bows, crying in sing-song tones, “ Come and tell us 
how charming we are, and we will love you ! ” 

“ But I don’t think you are at all charming ! ” said Bab, 
truthfully. “ I think you are vain and silly, and very ugly 
indeed ! ” 

“ But hear us sing ! ” cried the creatures. “ Listen to 
* our sweet, melodious, marvellous, exquisite, and never-again- 
to-be-equalled voices ! ” 

And once more they began to sing. This time their song 
was pretty, and sounded like a tinkling brook mixed with a 
summer breeze : 


“ Silver streams, 

Silver dreams. 

Little shafts of silver beams ; 
Music floats 
From our throats 
In a shower of silver notes, 
Like a fleet of silver boats ! 


47 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ We can sing 
Of everything, — 

Petal, feather, scale and wing ; 
Tinkle, Klang, 

While we sang, 

Fairy music round you rang, 

Klang and Tinkle ! Tinkle, Klang ! 


Bab thought the music lovely. She forgot where she was, 
and begged them to sing another song. Then suddenly her 
heart bounded hard. She remembered her errand ! 

“ Thank you, thank you ! ” she cried. “ But I must go ; 
I am late ! ” 

And she turned and ran away as fast as she could, leaving 
the goblins still singing. 

Soon she found herself in a cool, shadowy garden, where a 
fountain played softly, reflecting the big, heavy-headed roses 
that climbed up the edge of the marble basin to peep into 
the water. It was very restful and delicious there, and Bab 
was hot and tired. She wanted to sit down on the grass and 
rest, but she thought of Mother Goose, and prepared to plod 
on. Then she saw coming toward her a very beautiful lady, 
with a delightful, smiling face, and a little crown on her yellow 
hair. She wore a green dress, and her feet were bare, but 
Bab knew at once that she was a princess. 

“ How do you do?” said the Princess, smiling. “You 
are Bab, the little mortal girl, are n't you ? Will you rest in 
my garden for a little while ? ” 

48 


THROUGH THE WONDERFUL WOOD 

“I — I can’t,” said Bab, shyly. “ I have to go on. I ’m 
looking for Santa Claus.” 

The Princess laughed merrily. 

“ Oh, he lives ever so far away ! ” she said, with a wave of 
her hand. “ You ’d much better stay with me ! ” 

“ Who are you, please ? ” asked Bab. 

“ They call me the Idle Princess,” the lady answered. 
“ I have a great many names, but no one has ever discovered 
my real one.” 

“ What is it ? ” asked Bab. 

“ That ’s a secret,” she said, smiling mysteriously. 

“ Shall I ever know it ? ” 

“ Never ! And you ’ll call me different names every day 
of your life.” 

“ Shall I know you all my life ? ” cried Bab, “ even in 
the Real World ?” 

The Idle Princess smiled at her gently. 

“ Even there ! ” she said. a Now let us sit down on the 
grass and make daisy chains.” 

So they did ; and the fountain played softly, and Bab 
fancied she could hear Klang and Tinkle singing in the wood 
on the other side of the garden wall : 

M Silver streams, 

Silver dreams, 

Little shafts of silver beams ! . . . 

Suddenly Bab sprang to her feet, frightened. 

49 


4 


HUMPTY D UMPTY 


“ Oh, Princess ! " she cried, “ it must be late ; and I 
had forgotten my errand ! " 

She began to run across the grass as fast as she could ; then 
she remembered that she had not thanked her hostess, and 
stopped. The Idle Princess was at her side. 

“ Must you really go ? " she asked regretfully. 

“ Oh, yes I " sighed Bab. “ And oh. Princess ! could 
you tell me the way to Santa Claus's house?" 

They had reached the garden wall, and the Princess lifted 
Bab to the top. 

<( Just jump down on the other side and go straight ahead," 
she told her. “ I am sorry I cannot go with you to show you 
the way, but I have to spin six dreams before supper. Good- 
bye ! I 'll see you again some day. Kiss me ! " 

Bab stooped from the top of the wall, and kissed her. 

“ Good-bye, dear Princess, and thank you ! " she cried. 
But the Idle Princess had gone ! 

Bab hurried on through the Wonderful Wood, determined 
not to let anything else tempt her to stop again. The way 
seemed clear and open now. The trees grew wider apart, and 
from somewhere a soft sunset light was stealing through them. 

Suddenly Bab heard a great voice yawning, and through 
>the bushes stalked a tall, gray man, with a long beard, and big 
solemn eyes. He stared at Bab, and Bab stared at him. 

“ Who are you ? " asked Bab. Somehow his gaze made 
her feel sleepy. 

The stranger yawned again before replying. 

50 


THROUGH THE WONDERFUL WOOD 

“ The Sand Man/’ he said, in a heavy, drowsy voice. 

Bab found herself yawning in sympathy. Then she started 
and stared. 

“Why, I didn’t know — ” she began. 

“What ?” asked the Sand Man, dreamily. 

“ That you — that you — well, that you were , you know !” 
she stammered. ,j 

Truly this Make Believe Land was a queer place! She 
would expect to meet the Man in the Moon next, or the Old 
Woman who Sweeps the Cobwebs off the Sky! 

“ You may meet them both, if you like,” said her new 
acquaintance, though she had not spoken. 

Bab jumped. 

“ I did n’t say a word ! ” she exclaimed. 

“No,” returned the Sand Man, “but you thought.” 

“ Oh ! ” she murmured, “I didn’t know — ” 

“ There are many, many, many, many things you do not 
know,” remarked the Sand Man, so calmly that she could not 
call him rude, though she felt rather uncomfortable. She 
resolved to make friends with this queer creature. He was 
not merry and sweet, like the dear Idle Princess, but he looked 
as though he knew a great deal, and she felt quite a respect 
for him. 

“ I wonder,” she said timidly, “ if you would tell me 
why they call you the Sand Man.” 

“ Sit down,” he said gravely, “ and I will tell you. But 
you must be very still while I talk.” 

5i 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

They sat down on a soft bank of moss, and the Sand Man 
began. 

“ Where I live/’ he said, speaking in a low, slow voice, 
“ there is a whole world of sand. It does n’t lie out flat, like 
the desert, but in heaps and hills and waves, like the moors or the 
ocean. And down in the hollows it is soft and dark and cool, 
but up on the tops of the hillocks it is warm and bright. And 
when you lie on one of these hillocks, and look up at the blue, 
hot sky, a little lazy wind comes stealing along, and shifts the 
sand ever so slightly, and it begins to slide — and slide — and 
slide very softly, and you slide with it until — ” 

“Oh, dear!” sighed Bab, sleepily. “I’m afraid I’m 
going to sleep ! ” 

“ If you do, it is all the better,” said the Sand Man, calmly. 
“You will understand me much more clearly when you are 
asleep.” And he went on : 

“You slide — and slide — and slide, quite gently, down 
into the cool, dark, soft hollow, and when you are there the 
wind blows the sand over you, until only your face is left out- 
side, and at last you begin to sink, down — down — down into 
the sand. And the sand closes over you, and lies quite coolly 
and lightly on you everywhere. And you can’t open your 
eyes, but you wouldn’t if you could. And you can’t move, 
but you don’t want to move. And you can’t breathe, but you 
don’t have to breathe. And so you just lie in the heart of 
World of Sand, and that is — Sleep ”... 

. . . Dimly Bab could see the World of Sand, like a great, 
52 


THROUGH THE WONDERFUL WOOD 

gray-brown sea. The wind, stealing over it, stirred little rivers 
of sand, that slipped from the tops to the hollows. There was 
shade and shine there, and the hollows looked like cool, dark 
couches sheltered from the light . . . Then she found her- 
self lying in the sand, while the wind blew it over her. She 
had forgotten her errand, forgotten Santa Claus, forgotten 
Mother Goose, forgotten her brother and sister, forgotten 
everything. All she thought of was the sand and the wind, 
and that slow, delicious sinking — down — down — down — 
which was — Sleep . . . 

A sound came to her sharply, — a sound that was very 
familiar. She could not rouse herself at once, but it came 
again and again, and finally Bab started up blinking. Some- 
thing was pulling excitedly at her dress, stopping at intervals 
to bark wildly. Bab put out her arms with a cry of joy. 

“ Wiggles ! ” she gasped. And the little fox terrier jumped 
onto her lap. 

For a full minute they kissed each other, and Bab talked, 
and Wiggles squealed and barked and wriggled, and they had 
a splendid time. Then once again Bab remembered. 

“ It ’s dark !” she cried, springing up. “Where is the 
Sand Man ? Why — Oh, Wiggles, Wiggles ! you saved me ! 
I should have gone to sleep in the World of Sand, and never 
waked up any more, if you had n’t happened along ! ” 

Then she started again. “ Happen along ! ” she said. 
“ No — I really am beginning to understand things at last. 
Wiggles has been with me all the time, just as Bizzybuzz said, 

53 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


only I was too stupid to see him before ! Oh, Wiggles, dear, 
forgive me ! And now we must really, truly hurry ! What 
shall I say to Mother Goose if she asks me if I have been 
faithful and obedient ! Oh, dear! I’ve stopped by the way 
so many times, I shall never find the way to Santa Claus’s 
house ! ” And poor Bab wiped away a tear, and started off 
upon her journey once more, followed by Wiggles. But 
before she had gone a dozen steps, she stopped short in sur- 
prise. The forest had vanished, and she was at the foot of a 
steep hill. It looked bare and stony, but the top was covered 
with 'Snow. The sky was full of stars, and the wind was cold 
and fresh. Here and there firs and pine-trees swayed slightly. 
Evidently she was in some far Northern land. “ Oh ! oh ! ” 
she exclaimed delightedly ; “ this must be the country of 

Santa Claus, after all ! ” 

Losing no more time, she and Wiggles began to climb the 
long, dark hill, toward the snow that glistened in the starlight 
far away at the top. 



54 


VI 


How Bab Rescued the JHooden Cow 






























































































































•% 










































































































' 










































































CHAPTER VI 


How Bab Rescued the IHooden Cow 


FTER Bab and Wiggles had reached the top 
of the hill, and floundered through a space 
packed with snow, they found themselves in 
a clump of fir-trees, with the wind whirling 
about them, and, not far away, the yellow 
twinkle of a light. Of course Bab intended 
to go straight on toward the light, but first she paused to take 
breath. And as she paused, she heard a little voice, quite close 
to her, exclaim : “Oh, dear ! Oh, dear ! What do you suppose 
it is?” 



“What do I suppose what is?” said Bab, with a start, 
forgetting to be polite. 

There was a slight scramble, and a patter of very tiny feet ; 
and then Wiggles began to bark excitedly, with his ears cocked 
forward, and his bright eyes fixed on the ground. 


57 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“We — we weren’t talking to you,” explained the wee 
voice, nervously. “We were talking about you when we said 
‘ What is it ? * ” 

“ Oh,” said Bab, rather crossly. “ Well, you ’re very rude, 
anyway.” 

“ So are you,” said the small voice, coolly. 

Bab felt angry and bewildered. 

“ I think,” she returned, “ that I might just as well ask 
what you are ! ” 

“ Certainly ! ” said the little voice, more cheerfully. “We 
are the Mischief Brownies, — servants of the dear Wicked 
King, of the Red City. And you, I suppose, are an ogre ? ” 

“ Why, no ! ” said Bab. “ I ’m a little girl.” 

“Nonsense!” said the Mischief Brownie. “We know 
better! You’re big! You’re enormous! We know you. 
You’re an ogre!” 

“ Well, anyway,” said Bab, “ I’m in a hurry ; so good- 
night ! ” 

“ Where are you going ? ” asked the voice, anxiously. 
“You aren’t a friend of Santa Claus, are you?” 

“N-no,” said Bab, truthfully, “I never saw him in my life.” 

“ That ’s all right, then ! ” cried the Brownie, gaily. 
“You can help us in that case!” 

A number of little lights appeared in the darkness near the 
ground. They seemed to be tiny lanterns, and by their light 
Bab could see the bearers of them. They were wee, wee men, 
not more than a few inches high, dressed in brown, with green 

58 


THE WOODEN COW 

caps. Their faces were all stamped with wide grins, and their 
eyes were not unlike Bizzybuzz’s and the Musical Goblins*. 

“We’ll teach you six new spells or give you a wishing- 
cap if you ’ll help us,” said the spokesman. 

Bab’s heart leaped. A wishing-cap ! If she had that, she 
might go at once to the City of the Wicked King, and help 
Dick rescue Humpty Dumpty for Mother Goose ; and then 
they could all be free ! 

“ What do you want me to do ? ” she asked. 

“ Listen ! ” said the Head Brownie. “ Santa Claus has a 
Wooden Cow, of which he is very fond. It was only a little 
toy to begin with, but he fed it with all the shavings and saw- 
dust of magic wood that were left from his work, and it grew 
nearly as big as his house ! Our master, the Wicked King, 
has sent us to chop the Wooden Cow up, and bring him back 
as much of the magic wood as we can carry. That magic 
wood is very valuable, you see, and very hard to get, and he 
wants to have some spells made out of it.” 

“ I never heard of anything so dreadful ! ” Bab exclaimed 
indignantly. “ Poor cow ! ” 

“ It won’t hurt it at all,” explained the Mischief Brownie. 
“ The cow is nothing but wood, you know. Now, what we 
want you to do is to help us chop up the cow, for we are n’t 
big enough to do much by ourselves.” 

“ Indeed, I ’ll not help you,” said Bab, decidedly. “ I ’ll 
not chop up Santa Claus’s cow, and what’s more,” she 
cried with a sudden thought, “ I ’ll save her from you too ! ” 

59 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


She began to run as fast as she could, Wiggles scampering 
ahead, and the Brownies after her. She could hear their shrill 
voices telling her to stop, but she ran on. Soon she saw that 
they were going faster than she, and had turned to the right, 
dashing away through the starlight. They looked like black 
specks on the white snow. For they had all left the darkness 
of the clump of fir-trees by this time, and the queer little men 
were plainly visible. 

Faster and faster she went ; Wiggles rushing along in front 
of her, barking loudly. Soon she saw the barn glimmering 
dimly against the sky. Bab dashed toward it. The Brownies 
had disappeared; they must be already inside. 

“ Oh, dear ! ” cried Bab. “ I do so hope I shall get there 
in time to save that poor cow.” 

She had reached the barn, but the big door was shut and 
fastened. In despair Bab hunted for an opening of some sort, 
and finally found a low window. She clambered up, very 
much out of breath, and sat on the window-sill peering into 
the darkness of the barn. Everything inside was as black as 
ink, and smelled of saw-dust instead of hay. Where were the 
Brownies, and where was the Wooden Cow ? 

A sudden idea came to her. Leaning down, she whis- 
pered, “ Wiggles, Wiggles, darling, jump ! ” 

Wiggles tried twice in vain. The third time he was in 
her lap, trembling with excitement. She lifted him down 
inside the barn, slipping down herself at the same time. 

“ Now, Wiggles,” she said aloud, “ chase 'em!” 

60 


THE WOODEN COW 


She clapped her hands as she spoke, and Wiggles’s scurry- 
ing, scratching feet were heard on the floor in the dark. Bab 
listened with a beating heart. Wiggles snuffed and snapped 
and scratched and scampered about, and finally gave an eager 
bark. At the same moment the air became filled with shrill 
little startled cries. 

“ Don’t hurt them, Wiggles ! ” cried Bab. “ Just chase 
them out ! ” 

She found the barn door, groping through the dark, and 
managed to open it ; and then she watched the whole tribe of 
Mischief Brownies escaping frantically, and flying over the 
snow with Wiggles after them. 

“ Come back, Wiggles,” she called ; and the obedient little 
dog returned to her promptly. He felt quite disappointed at 
having to give up the chase so soon. 

“ Now we’ll have to hunt for the Wooden Cow,” said 
Bab. “ I hope they have n’t done it any harm already.” 

“ They took off one horn,” said a thick wheezy voice near 
by ; and Bab jumped. 

“ Are you the Wooden Cow ? ” she asked. 

“Yes; kindly put out your hand.” 

Bab obeyed, and touched a curved piece of wood. 

“That’s my horn,” said the same voice, “the one that 
they did n’t take off.” 

“Where is the other one?” asked Bab. “They didn’t 
take it with them, surely?” 

“ No ; I think I see your dog eating it now.” 

61 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


Wiggles was sitting in the doorway, cheerfully gnawing 
the missing horn. Bab rescued it, much to Wiggles’s annoy- 
ance, and then exclaimed to its rightful owner, “You poor 
thing ! Did the Brownies hurt you ? ” 

“Oh, no!” said the Cow, calmly. “You know I’m 
wooden. Nothing hurts me. It would n’t have hurt me if 
they had cut me in pieces as they intended to, and as they 
would have done if you had n’t dropped in ; but it would have 
annoyed me. Because then I would n’t have existed any 
more. And that would have been disagreeable ! ” 

“ I should think so, indeed ! ” agreed Bab. “ Now let me 
see how I can get this horn on again ! I wish there was a 
light. Never mind ! I ’ll hunt about in the dark.” 

As a matter of fact, it did not seem nearly so dark as it 
had been. Bab saw that this was because the moon was ris- 
ing. By its light drifting in through the big open door, she 
could see the large, motionless figure of the Wooden Cow, 
with its one horn. 

“ I smell paint somewhere,” said Bab, sniffing, and began 
to hunt for it. Sure enough, not far away, she found a can 
of black paint. 

“Santa Claus used that to touch me up with,” explained 
the Cow, with a certain mournful pride. “ I was a very 
handsome article when new ! ” 

“Well,” said Bab, cheerfully, “now, I'm going to touch 
you up with it ! ” 

For she felt very sorry for the poor Wooden Cow, and 
62 


THE WOODEN COW 


already had made up her mind to do all that she could to help 
it. She scooped up some saw-dust from the floor, and mixed 
it with the black paint until it made a thick, sticky paste. 
Then she plastered it on the base of the wooden horn, and 
then over the place on the Cow’s head from which it had 
been broken off. Then she stuck the horn on, and tied it up 
securely with a ribbon from her dress. As she did this, a tiny 
bit of wood — loosened, perhaps, by whatever weapon or im- 
plement the Brownies had used to cut off the horn — came 
off in her hand. Hardly thinking what she was doing, she 
dropped it into her pocket. 

“ There ! ” she cried gaily, jumping down from the 
window-sill, where, being quite short, she had had to kneel 
while she worked, — “ There ! I really think that will stay 
on ! ” As she spoke, she found the bit of wood in her pocket. 
“ I wonder why I kept that ?” she thought. “Never mind! 
I shall want to have something to remember the Wooden 
Cow by.” 

“I am indebted to you,” said the Wooden Cow, with dignity. 

“ Now,” said Bab, “ I shall have to go up to Santa Claus’s 
house, and call upon him. I ’ll leave Wiggles to take care 
of you in case those bad Brownies come back. Wiggles, sit 
down and keep watch ! ” 

Wiggles did as he was told, rather sadly. He hated to be 
left alone, and he did not count the Cow as company. Bab 
left the barn, and hurried away toward the lighted cottage, 
which she felt very sure was Santa Claus’s house. 

63 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

When she reached the house, she knocked several times 
before anyone answered. At last the door opened, and a 
kind, merry voice said : “ Come in, come in ! Is that Bab ? 
Why, bless my soul ! I ’ve been expecting you for a long 
time ! ” 

It certainly was Santa Claus ! How exactly like his pic- 
tures he looked! No, kinder, and dearer, and more lovable 
in every way. Bab wanted to get onto his knee at once, and 
put her head down on his shoulder, just as though he were 
her own grandfather at home. And as a matter of fact, that 
is just exactly what she did! For as soon as she had gone 
inside and the door had been shut, Santa Claus sat down in a 
big chair and lifted her onto his lap. 

“ Bless my soul ! ” he said again, beaming at her. “ So 
you are the little girl who did n’t believe in me, and thought 
I ’d be a bore if I were real ? Mother Goose — dear lady ! — 
said that you ’d be along before very long.” 

Bab dropped her head onto his shoulder, and said, “I — 
I ’m very sorry I said those things about you ! ” 

“ Bless my soul ! ” exclaimed Santa Claus. “She ’s crying ! 
That will never do ! ” 

“ I ’m sleepy ! ” Bab gave a sob. She was only a little 
girl, you see, after all; and the way through the Wonderful 
Wood had been long. “ And — and — ” She stopped, trying 
not to really cry. 

“ Dear me ! And hungry ! ” cried Santa Claus. “ I should 
think so ! ” 


64 


THE WOODEN COW 


And somehow, before she knew what had happened, she 
found herself eating, — bread and butter, and milk, and little 
hot cakes, and muffins, and preserves, and sugar-plums ! Such 
a good supper ! 

“ Please,” said Bab, suddenly, “ let me take some to Wig- 
gles. He ’s hungry, I know ; and he ’s in the barn, taking 
care of the Wooden Cow.” 

“ What ’s that you say ? ” questioned Santa Claus, looking 
surprised. 

And then Bab told him all about the rescue of the Wooden 
Cow. And Santa Claus was much pleased and interested, and 
seemed very grateful as well. And he went down to the barn 
himself, and brought Wiggles back with him, and gave him 
a wonderful supper, and said he was a splendid dog. And 
Wiggles was simply delighted. 

Altogether, everything was going on in the most joyful 
manner possible, when Bab suddenly sprang to her feet, dis- 
tressed and worried. 

“ What is the matter ?” asked Santa Claus, kindly. 

“ Oh, Santa Claus ! ” cried poor Bab. “ I had forgotten 
my errand again ! Mother Goose sent me to you to serve you 
until I had won the right to go back to the Real World ! ” 

“ Dear, dear ! ” said Santa Claus, with twinkling eyes. 
“ And do you want to start to-night ? ” 

“ No,” said Bab, reproachfully. “ No, — indeed ! But,” 
anxiously, “ tell me what I am to do, Santa Claus. You 
see, now I sha’n’t be doing it only because Mother Goose 

5 65 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


told me I must, but because you have been so kind to 
Wiggles and me ! ” 

Then Santa Claus gazed at her with such wonderful 
kindness in his smile that she felt almost bewildered. 

“ Little Bab,” he said gently, “ don't you see that you have 
won your freedom already, if you want it, by what you did 
for my Wooden Cow?' 

“ But — but — ” stammered Bab, very much surprised, “ I 
did n't do it for that reason ! ” 

“ I know it. And that is just why it sets you free,” said 
Santa Claus. “ And now go to sleep. To-morrow you may 
go back to Mother Goose.” 

Bab felt very sleepy. The firelight was flickering drowsily 
about the room. She and Wiggles were curled up on a big 
fur rug that lay beside the hearth. Santa Claus's face smiled 
at her in the dancing, fading red light. 

“ Good-night, Bab,” he said. 

“ Good-night, Santa Cl — ” 

Then she and Wiggles went fast asleep by the big fire in 
the house of Santa Claus. 



66 


* 


VII 

A leg's ^Journey to Fairyland 







CHAPTER VII 


Meg s Journey to Fairyland 



' OW we must leave Bab for a little while, and 
go back to her sister Meg, whom we left on 
the edge of the Wonderful Wood. 

“It’s all nonsense!” said Meg to herself, 
as she entered the big forest She turned 
to speak to Bab, but of course found herself quite alone. She 
rubbed her eyes and looked about her wonderingly. It was 
all nonsense, undoubtedly, but — where were the others? She 
felt just a wee bit frightened. It was rather creepy, really, — 
this being alone in the Wonderful Wood. 

Well, the only thing to do was to hurry and get out of it, 
as fast as she possibly could. She wheeled around, but soon 
saw, as Bab had seen, that the forest had closed in behind her, 
and that there was nothing to do but go on. So on she went. 

69 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


She found the path fairly smooth and easy, and her spirits 
rose. She walked faster and faster, and even sang to herself 
as she went. She had forgotten all about her errand, all about 
the Fairy Queen and Mother Goose and Humpty Dumpty. 
She simply danced along the pretty, shady wood-path, and 
hummed little songs, and wondered how long it would be 
before she was out of the forest. Meg was younger than Bab, 
you see, and even more thoughtless, and so she had all the 
more to learn and all the farther to go. And it came about 
that she had walked twice as far as Bab’s whole journey had 
been, before anything befell her that was at all like an adven- 
ture. But when it did happen — Well, it was this way : 

She was just beginning to feel a little tired, and a little 
bored also. There seemed to be no squirrels nor birds to 
watch, nor any flowers to pick, and the path was as straight 
as a string, and just about as interesting to Meg ! 

“Oh, dear!” she exclaimed at last, “I thought I should 
see all sorts of strange things, and I have n’t seen anything at 
all yet. I wish something would happen ! I wish I could 
see something queer and excit — ” 

“ How about me ? ” demanded a voice at her side. Meg 
stopped short, and she and the owner of the voice stood and 
stared at each other. 

He was a small, evil-looking dwarf, dressed in gray, with 
skin the colour of his clothes, and a huge hump on his back. 

“ Who are you ? ” asked Meg. 

“ Grump,” said the stranger. “ Grump, the Gray Dwarf. 

70 


JOURNEY TO FAIRYLAND 

And of all the creatures in the Wonderful Wood, I am the 
wickedest ! ” 

He seemed remarkably proud of the fact. 

Meg felt squirmy and uncomfortable. There was no 
doubt about it : he did look very wicked indeed ! 

“ I am not afraid of you ! ” she said boastfully, though 
her voice quavered. 

“That’s good!” said Grump, grinning horribly. “For / 
we are to be comrades for a time ! ” 

Meg felt really frightened now. 

“ Indeed we are not ! ” she exclaimed, trying to sound 
very brave and careless. “You live in the Wonderful Wood, 
and I am only passing through it, — as quickly as possible,” 
she added with much feeling. 

“Yes, yes!” said Grump, still grinning. “As quickly as 
possible ! ” 

Something in his look made Meg fear that that might not 
be so very quickly, after all. 

“ Come,” continued the Gray Dwarf, holding out a gray 
hand. “ Come with me ! ” 

And, desperately frightened, but feeling in an odd way 
that she was quite weak and helplessly in the power of her 
new acquaintance, Meg followed him — where do you think ? 

Into a little black hole in the ground ! As she looked down 
at it, she did not dream that she could get into it, but the 
Gray Dwarf took her hand, and she found herself slipping in 
with as much ease as Grump himself. 

7 1 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


Down they went through an earthy-smelling passage-way 
that twisted and turned through utter darkness. The air was 
damp and heavy and very cold. 

“ Am I dreaming, after all ? ” thought Meg. “ I feel like 
a mole, — burrowing into the earth like this ! ” 

It seemed to her that they went a very great distance, 
stumbling along through the moist ground, with the close 
x earthy smell all about, and no light anywhere. At last the 
passage suddenly widened out, and opened onto a round space 
like an underground cave, lighted by a low, green flame that 
flickered fitfully in one corner. 

The walls were all of earth, — fresh, damp earth ; and 
now and then a little would slip down, the way it does from 
a heap of mould when you ’ve been digging in the garden. 
It fell upon the moist earth-floor at their feet, but it made no 
sound. There were no echoes in this underground room 
where the Gray Dwarf lived. Everything was still, — much 
too still to be pleasant, Meg thought. In the earth-walls 
were queer little fibrous threads here and there, and overhead 
some big, pale, thin things hung down, like frozen snakes, or 
dead, curving tree-branches. At first she could not guess what 
they all were, but suddenly she saw that they were roots ! 
The roots of trees and plants and shrubs, and all sorts of 
growing things ! She was indeed far down in the earth, since 
she could look up and see the roots of the Wonderful Wood. 

She stood, blinking at the faint green flame, and watched 
Grump go across to it. By blowing upon it he made it flare 

72 


JOURNEY TO FAIRYLAND 

up more brightly, and the vivid emerald light made Meg's 
heart go faster than ever. What was going to happen to her ? 
Was she going to be burned up ? Grump, having freshened 
his ghostly fire, proceeded to place on it a huge iron caldron, 
— the kind that you always think of witches bending over. 
This horrid-looking thing he brought from a shadowy corner. 
As soon as the flames touched it, a thick steam began to rise 
from the big black pot, filling the air with a queer, spicy 
smell, and curling clouds of purple smoke. Grump gave a 
long, low cry, and waved his arms over the pot. 

“ Oh, what is it ? " Meg exclaimed, in terror. 

Grump grinned and glared at her. 

“ Magic! " he said. “Watch, and you will see something! 5> 

The steam came and came, until it hid both Grump and 
the pot. Then on it Meg saw, as though reflected or 
sketched very dimly, the figure of a man with glittering eyes, 
a crown, and a deep red robe. He was looking down at 
Grump, who, Meg now saw, was crouching at his feet. 

“You have done my bidding?" said the shadowy crimson 
man. “You have stopped the messenger sent from Mother 
Goose to the Fairy Queen?" 

“ Yes, O Wicked King ! " cried Grump. 

“You have brought her to your Earth-Home?" 

“ Yes, O Wicked King ! " 

“ You have let her live so far?" 

“ Yes, O Wicked King. What does his most august and 
nobly evil Majesty desire done with her?" 

73 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

“ Destroy her ! ” said the Wicked King. “ If she is allowed 
to go to the Court of the Fairies, she will be taught the spell 
that frees Humpty Dumpty, and I shall lose both my prisoner 
and the spell. Destroy her, I say ! Put her into the big pot!” 

He vanished, and instantly the thick steam cleared away. 
Meg saw Grump huddled down beside the big pot. 

“ What are you going to do with me ? ” she asked, 
trembling. 

“ Put you into the big pot,” said the Gray Dwarf, with a 
grin of joy. “ You heard the Wicked King’s orders.” 

Meg gasped, and looked about her for some way of 
escape. Then she tried to think more calmly, and decided 
that her one chance lay in gaining time. To do this, she 
began to talk to the Gray Dwarf as quietly as she could. 

“ I really think,” she said, “that if you are going to boil 
me, you might tell me what for.” 

Grump considered this for a minute. “ Well,” he said at 
last, “I have no objection to that. You may sit down if you 
like, and I will explain.” 

Meg sat down obediently, though with a quaking heart, 
and Grump sat opposite her, still beside the pot. The green 
flames flickered uncannily about him as he talked. 

“In the first place,” he began, “you must know that I 
am in the service of the Wicked King, whom you saw appear 
just now. He lives in the Great Red City, beside the Sea of 
Glass, and he keeps Mother Goose’s son Humpty Dumpty a 
prisoner on his city wall. My master is very great and very 

74 


JOURNEY TO FAIRYLAND 

cruel, and I obey him in everything. You know, probably, 
about the capture of Humpty Dumpty ? ” 

“No, not about the capture,” said Meg. “ Only that he 
was captured. How did it happen?” 

“ That is a long story. I will only take time to tell you 
that I had a good deal to do with it ! ” And he grinned 
again. “ Well, there is only one spell which can set him free, 
and that spell is in the possession of one person, — the Queen 
of the Fairies. It is a very valuable spell, and she keeps it 
carefully hidden. A little while ago. Mother Goose heard of 
the spell, and she and the Fairy Queen have been sending 
messages to each other ever since. The Queen has promised 
to give it to the old lady’s messenger, and that is the chief 
reason why you are being sent to Fairyland, — to bring back 
the spell. Now that is one reason why the Wicked King 
wants to have you killed. Do you see?” 

“ I suppose so,” said poor Meg, though it did seem rather 
unfair. “ Is there any other reason?” 

“ Two,” answered Grump, seeming pleased that she saw 
the matter so clearly. “ One is that the Wicked King is plan- 
ning to steal that spell away from the Queen within another 
day ! ” 

“ But how can he steal a spell ? ” said Meg, puzzled and 
interested in spite of her own danger. “ I thought a spell was 
a — a — well, some words, you know, or — anyway, I did n’t 
know that you could really steal it.” 

“ Oh, yes ! ” the Gray Dwarf assured her. “ This spell is 

75 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

written on a piece of sky-coloured paper and kept in a crystal 
box. Well, the Wicked King is going to have it stolen to- 
night ! Then he can not only keep Humpty Dumpty forever, 
but he will own the spell besides. A really good spell, you 
know, is always useful for a great many purposes.” 

Meg listened with open eyes. And as she heard these 
things she thought not only of her own safety, but of poor 
Humpty Dumpty, who would never be free, and Mother 
Goose, who must grieve over her son forever, and the good 
Fairy Queen, who would be robbed of her treasure by the 
Wicked King. And then she thought of her errand, and 
Mother Goose’s trust in her ; she had forgotten all about what 
she had been told to do, and she felt ashamed of herself. Per- 
haps, if she had kept her wits about her as she passed through 
the Wonderful Wood, and thought steadily of what she had 
been sent for, she would have escaped the clutches of the 
cruel Gray Dwarf. 

Suddenly she felt that she must get away, if only to warn 
the Fairy Queen and ask Mother Goose’s pardon. Her deter- 
mination shapened her wits. Once more she tried to gain time. 
She looked about her to find the way by which she had come. 
The hole in the earth wall looked smaller than ever, and more- 
over it was some distance away and on the side nearest Grump. 
There did not seem to be much hope of escape, but she did 
not feel entirely discouraged. 

“You said there was another reason,” she reminded her 
jailer. Grump had started to blow up the fire again, with 

76 


JOURNEY TO FAIRYLAND 

glances of wicked glee in her direction. As she spoke, he 
stopped and sat down once more. 

“ Oh, yes ! ” he said. “Well, the other reason for your 
death is this : In that caldron is all the magic power I have. 
It was that which made you obliged to follow me when I 
stopped you in the Wonderful Wood. It was that which 
brought me the vision of the Wicked King a few minutes ago. 
Without it I should be just an ordinary, commonplace, every- 
day gnome. The contents of the caldron is made of souls, — 
the souls of all sorts of things, — - the soul of a flower, the 
soul of a tiger, the soul of a butterfly, a nightingale, a lizard, 
a sea-gull, a snake, a bat, a porcupine, a goblin, an ogre, 
a dove ! All kinds and conditions of souls, you see ! But 
the magic essence will be complete only when the soul of a 
mortal is added to it. Then my master the King and I 
shall be the lords of all this land ! Therefore you must go 
into the pot ! ” 

Meg’s heart leaped. She had thought of something ! It 
was a tiny chance, but still a chance. 

“ Did you say,” she asked, looking at the caldron as though 
in awe, “ that all your power comes from that ? ” 

Grump laughed. 

“ Every bit ! ” he returned. “ Why, if that were tipped 
over — ” He stopped short, and looked at her as though he 
were afraid he might have told her too much. Meg’s heart 
beat faster and faster, but she managed to speak in a sad, 
frightened tone : 


77 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Oh, I hate the thought of having my soul used in a 
magic essence — Oh, must I really be put into the pot?” 

She had risen to her feet, and was moving slowly toward 
the pot, looking very much afraid. Grump had risen too, and 
was blowing the fire into big, green flames. 

“ You really must! ” he said cheerfully. “ It won’t hurt, 
so you need n’t mind in the least ! ” 

Meg went nearer and nearer. How big and black the pot 
looked ! 

“ Now,” said the Gray Dwarf, “ shall I put you in, or will 
you jump ?” 

“ Oh, I ’ll jump — if I really do have to get in,” said Meg, 
seeming to shrink. 

“Well, are you ready ?” asked Grump, impatiently. 

“ Quite ready ! ” cried Meg, and sprang forward. 

But, instead of jumping into the pot, she threw herself 
against it with all her weight. It swayed, toppled, and then 
went over with an awful hiss of steam and a wild leap of 
wicked, green fire. Meg heard the Gray Dwarf scream with 
fury and cry: “ My power is gone ! My magic is gone ! 
What shall I do?” 

He was just in front of her, and tried'to stop her with a 
snarl of rage. But she was bigger than he was, and stronger 
now, and she pushed him away, and plunged past him into 
the dark passage-way once more. 

On — on — up — up she struggled, leaving the green light 
and Grump’s cries farther and farther behind her. She breathed 

78 


JOURNEY TO FAIRYLAND 

the damp, earthy air with joy in spite of its heavy closeness. 
On — on — up — up! . . . Suddenly she was in the outer 
air again, blinking and gasping and covered with clinging 
earth. 

At first she was so glad to be safe that she noticed nothing 
remarkable; but after a moment she cried out with surprise. 
The Wonderful Wood had entirely disappeared, and she was 
standing in a great meadow filled with rainbow flowers more 
lovely than any mortal ever saw before ! 



79 




VIII 


The Court of the Fairy ifueen 







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.. .... 




























CHAPTER VIII 



The Court of the Fairy ^ueen 

T first Meg thought she was alone, but soon 
she saw a lady standing near, picking pale 
yellow blossoms. She wore a green gown, 
and her feet were bare. On her bright hair 
was a little crown that seemed made of wee 
gold stars, and her face was very grave and 
sweet. Meg went up to her timidly. 

“ Please,” she said with a catch in her voice, “ will you 
tell me the way to Fairyland? I — I’m in a great hurry.” 

“ What do you want to do in Fairyland?” said the lady, 
kindly. “ Are you in trouble ? ” 

“ N-n-o — that is, a little. I want to tell the Fairy 
Queen something she ought to know. And I want to let 
Mother Goose know how sorry I am that I was disobedient 

83 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


and naughty, and of course if I could I should like to help 
Dick save Humpty Dumpty.” 

“You look sad,” said the lady, and put her arm about 
Meg. 

“I want Bab and Dick, — that’s all,” said Meg, simply. 
“And — and — of course I’m sorry, and — and worried about 
things, you know.” 

The lady smiled quite merrily. Then she lifted Meg in 
her arms and kissed her softly. 

“ Dear little girl ! ” she said. “ Sweet Meg ! you have 
had a harder journey than Bab, but you are at the end of it.” 

“ Who — who are you, please ? ” whispered Meg, wonder- 
ing that she knew their names. 

“ You may call me the Lady of Dreams-Come-True,” said 
the green-gowned stranger. “ But that is not my name. 
Now run along quickly to the Court of the Fairies.” 

“ Oh, but I am so dusty and dirty ! ” exclaimed Meg. “ I 
can’t go to Court this way ! ” 

“You have your pink silk dress with you,” said the Lady 
of Dreams-Come-True, laughing. 

Meg looked down in surprise. Over her left arm hung 
her once-treasured pink gown ! Somehow, among these 
wonderful flowers and beside this beautiful lady, it did not 
look nearly so pretty as it once had. She let it slip to the 
ground. 

“ I must have been very silly,” she said half to herself, “ to 
want to bring that to Make Believe Land ! ” 

84 
































































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T 














































































































THE COURT OF THE FAIRY QUEEN 

The lady laughed again, in a pleased way. 

“ Then you must go to Court as you are,” she said ; “ but 
I think that you look very nice ! ” 

Meg looked down again, and saw that her white dress was 
now as fresh and clean as though it had just been washed. 

“ Why — why — ” she stammered, “ how wonderful ! It 
might almost be Fairyland already ! ” 

“ It is Fairyland already,” said her new friend. “Look ! ” 
Over the flowers Meg could see a thousand faint and shin- 
ing wings. The air shimmered and glinted with them ; the 
flowers swayed softly beneath their fanning. The daintiest, 
loveliest faces and forms showed dimly between every glisten- 
ing, misty pair of these wonderful wings. 

Meg gazed, bewildered. 

“ Oh, how beautiful ! ” she cried softly. 

“ Good-bye, Meg,” was all the lady would say. She 
seemed to be growing transparent and misty herself. 

“ Good-bye ! ” cried Meg. “ Oh ! shall I see you again ? ” 
“ Oh, yes ! yes ! ” she answered, smiling, and seemed to 
become a little less distinct. “Some day — some day — ” 
murmured Dreams-Come-True ; and straightway vanished 
into the soft rainbow-tinted air. 

As Meg walked on through the Flower Meadow, the deli- 
cate wings and faces grew more and more distinct, and seemed 
to crowd ever closer and closer about her. Everywhere they 
floated, like faintly coloured mist-wreaths, like the ghosts of 
big, beautiful butterflies, like flowers made alive. Everywhere 

85 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


the light glowed, brilliant and yet soft, like a huge, liquid 
opal. Sometimes it seemed to Meg to be shot with the palest 
pink, sometimes the purest blue, sometimes the most exquisite 
green, the clearest yellow, the faintest lavender. And what 
with the flowers, and the wings, and the magical colours in 
the air, Meg felt as though she were moving through the 
heart of a great rainbow. 

About her feet and against her dress swayed and bumped 
the big bright flowers. Some of them were so tall that they 
touched her shoulders with their sweet, nodding heads ; some- 
times t]jey were so tiny that she almost stepped on them, 
though, of course, she tried not to. The sky was filled with 
rainbow-coloured clouds ; a delicious perfume hung every- 
where. In the distance rose slender turrets — gold and rose- 
coloured and snow-white — from the mist of flowers and wings. 

And as Meg listened, she could hear any number of voices 
singing, in the sweetest chorus imaginable, a little, soft song 
about roses and clouds and dew and star-beams. 

There was no doubt about it, — no doubt at all: as the 
Lady of Dreams-Come-True had said, she really was in Fairy- 
land at last. These airy beings floating and fluttering, singing 
and crowding on every hand, were certainly the Fairies, — the 
dainty folk whose Queen she was seeking. 

Meg resolved not to loiter any longer in that delicious 
field, but to hurry across it as fast as she could and to find the 
Queen. But when she tried to move more quickly, she found 
that the soft transparent forms were holding her back. She 

86 


THE COURT OF THE FAIRY QUEEN 

s tmggl e d for a minute or two in vain. She felt hands as 
light as rain-drops on her wrists, and at last she heard a high, 
sweet laugh. Then the clearest of bell-like voices said: 

“ Well, Mortal, what are you doing here ? And why do 
you struggle so hard against the Fairy Folk ? ” 

“ Oh, please ! ” panted Meg. “ Take me to the Fairy 
Queen ! ” 

Again came the light, soft laugh. 

“ Not so fast, Mortal ! That is easy to ask. Do you think 
our Queen is so easy to see ? You must state your business.” 

“ I must see the Queen ! ” cried Meg. “ It — it ’s very 
important ! It ’s ” — speaking with a sort of rush — “ it ’s 
about the Wicked King, and the spell in the crystal box ! ” 

Instantly an angry chorus filled the air, and Meg found 
herself held more tightly than before. 

“ How dare she ? ” cried the Fairies. “ How dare she 
speak of the Wicked King and the spell here ? She must 
know either the Wicked King or Grump ! ” 

“ Yes ! ” Meg tried to explain, speaking eagerly. “ And 
Grump told me — ” 

But at this point the chorus rose to the shrillest rage. 

“ Grump ! Grump ! She knows him ! She admits it ! 
Away with her! She shall not live another hour! No — no 
— turn her into a rat or an oyster ! She is a friend of our 
dear Lady’s enemy, the Gray Dwarf! ” 

“ Indeed I ’m not a friend of Grump’s ! ” exclaimed Meg, 
indignantly. “ You just ask him if I am ! ” 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


But they would not listen to her, and she felt herself being 
hurried away, faster and faster and faster with every second, 
until she was sure she should die if they did not let her stop 
to take breath. 

“ Please — please — ” she panted, as they pulled her 
along, “ I can explain if you will just wait one moment ! ” 
But they were far too busy abusing her, to hear a word she 
said. 

“ Oh, dear, dear, dear ! ” sighed poor Meg to herself. 
“ Grump must be a nasty person, if just mentioning his name 
has this effect ! ” 

As she was dragged along through the Flower Meadow, 
she kept repeating over and over : “ I must see the Queen ! 
I must tell her ! I must warn her ! ” And suddenly — she 
never knew how, but she suspected Mother Goose or Dreams- 
Come-True of having something to do with it — she really did 
break from the grasp of her captors and dash on across the 
field alone. 

She could hear the sweet, excited voices of the Fairies, and 
could feel their wings fan the back of her neck as they 
followed her. But at that moment she caught sight of a 
low, flowery hedge, with a gateway made of two tall trees 
wreathed with blossoming vines, and through that gate she 
dashed, just as the Fairies behind her cried : 

“ She has gone into the Palace Garden ! She has gone 
into the Queen’s presence ! How dare she ! ” 

Meg was in the loveliest place she had ever seen, but 
88 


THE COURT OF THE FAIRY QUEEN 

she was too frightened to think of its magical beauty just 
then. By the time the Fairy Folk came crowding into the 
Garden after her, she had espied a lady sitting on a throne, 
with giant roses all about, and Fairy Court-ladies standing in 
rows with folded wings. 

“ Oh, are you the Queen ? ” she asked eagerly, running 
forward. 

“Yes,” said the beautiful lady. And all the Fairies 
stopped and stood motionless as she spoke. She had great 
shining wings that moved up and down, trembling like 
flower-petals, and her face gleamed with a wonderfully sunny 
smile ; and sometimes she swayed a little, like a very tall lily 
in a high wind. And no one could say what colour her eyes 
were, nor what sort of features she had. But one knew at 
once that she was surely the Queen of the Fairy Folk. 

“Yes,” she said again. “I am the Queen. What is it 
that you wish of me?” 

“ Oh, your Majesty ! ” cried the Fairies who had followed 
Meg ; and they all bent low, and spread out their wings as she 
spoke — just the way a bird sometimes does, close to the 
ground, when it begins to rain, — “ Oh, your Majesty ! Do 
not listen to her ! She is a friend of the Gray Dwarf and the 
Wicked King! ” 

“ Is that true ? ” asked the Queen, bending over Meg, and 
flashing her eyes at her until she felt as though she were look- 
ing deep into two huge stars. 

“No!” cried Meg, boldly. “It isn't!” 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Oh ! " exclaimed the Fairies, angrily. “ How truly 
wicked she is ! And how she lies ! She told us she was a 
friend of theirs ! " 

“ I said I knew Grump/' said Meg, ready to cry. “ I never 
said he was my friend. He 's dreadful, and tried to kill me ; 
and as for the Wicked King, I only saw him in some magic 
pot-steam ! " 

“ What is all this about ? " asked the Queen, frowning 
slightly. “ Come, little girl, tell your story ; we will listen." 

So Meg told her story from the time she met the Gray 
Dwarf. The Queen was much interested, and she thanked her 
for warning her about the Wicked King's wish to steal her 
valuable spell. And the Fairies who had wanted to turn Meg 
into a rat or an oyster looked very much ashamed of them- 
selves, and hung down their wings in a very humble manner. 

“ But," said the Queen, “ how did it happen that you, a 
little mortal girl, were travelling through the Wonderful Wood 
alone, so very, very far from your own country ? " 

Then Meg remembered her real errand, and explained at 
greater length, telling all about Mother Gooses directions, and 
everything from the very beginning. At last it was all told, 
and the Queen sat for a space in silence, as though considering 
what she had heard. 

At last she sent two of the Fairies for the crystal box contain- 
ing the spell. When they returned, bearing it between them, she 
opened the little casket, and took out of it a roll of paper as blue 
as the sky, covered with writing that glowed like orange fire. 

90 


THE COURT OF THE FAIRY QUEEN 

“ Listen,” said the Fairy Queen, and then read aloud : 

u 1 Closed door, closed shell, 

Locked box, sealed well, 

Shot bolt, shut gate, 

Yield up your contents straight. 

All things that fastened are, 

Shake off the spell or bar; 

All strange disguises flee, 

Everything held, — go free! 

Closed door, closed shell, 

Yield to the opening spell!’ 

Now, do you understand that?” 

“I — I think so — partly,” said Meg, doubtfully. “ But 
what am I to do with it, please?” 

“ Take it to your brother,” said the Queen. “With it he 
can free Humpty Dumpty, and fulfil Mother Goose's com- 
mand. He has only to read it to Humpty Dumpty, at the 
same time striking the great egg-shell with something hard 
and sharp, and the young prince will be free, and in his own 
shape once more.” 

“ Oh, splendid ! ” cried Meg joyfully, clapping her hands, 
and dancing first on one foot and then on the other. 

“ The next difficulty,” continued the Queen, “ will be 
for your brother to escape. Humpty Dumpty can escape 
from the wall well enough, but your brother cannot be freed 
by the spell, for he will be neither bound nor locked up ; in 
neither shell, prison, nor box; behind no gate, no door, and 
no bars. Yet he will be on the top of the city wall, which is 

9i 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


near the ground on the inside, but far, far from it on the out- 
side. For this he has only to whisper ‘ Help me ! 5 into one 
of the red flowers on the vine that grows on the outer side of 
the wall. Then he can clamber down by the help of these 
tiny climbing creepers. They are Fairy Flowers, and like 
to give aid. They cannot grow inside the city of the Wicked 
King, but they come as near as possible, and are always hoping 
that some day they may be able to help someone. Now, little 
Mortal, take my spell and hurry back with it ! ” 

“ Oh, but — your Majesty ! ” stammered Meg. “ I — I 
was told to serve you for a year and a day, or until I had 
done you some great service ! ” 

The Queen laughed until it sounded like a hundred little 
gold bells. 

“ Dear child, you have served me,” she said. “ Have you 
already forgotten the warning you gave me ? ” 

“ Oh ! ” exclaimed Meg, and was dumb. She had never 
thought of that ! 



92 


IX 

Under the Sea of Glass 


















































































































































































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CHAPTER IX 



Under the Sea of Glass 

F course, when Dick found himself alone in 
the Wonderful Wood, he was as surprised as 
his two sisters had been, and just a wee bit 
frightened too ; though, being a boy, he would 
not admit it, even to himself! 

He trotted down the wood-path — which twisted and 
turned like a long snake — with his hands in his trousers 
pockets, and a very determined heart. He was extremely 
proud of having been chosen by Mother Goose for the task 
of rescuing her son, Humpty Dumpty, and thought that it 
showed how really sensible she was, after all. For of course, 
those things — rescuing prisoners, and all that — were always 
done by men ! 

He thought it a pity that neither she nor Bizzybuzz had 
given him any clearer directions about getting to the city of 
the Wicked King, but he hoped to meet plenty of people 

95 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


from whom he could ask the way. So he hurried on quite 
cheerfully, earnest and excited, into the depths of the Won- 
derful Wood. And very soon the wood grew lighter and 
thinner, and finally came to an end altogether, and lo and 
behold ! there he was, on the shore of the Sea of Glass ! 

You see, Dick’s journey through the Wonderful Wood 
had been short, for all his adventures were to follow. 

The Sea of Glass looked like a big green mirror, polished 
and clear and smooth. It did not look like water, nor ice, 
nor like anything except just what it was. Through the glass 
surface Dick could see faintly moving shadows and ripples. 
Evidently there was water underneath. As a matter of fact, 
it had once been a real, regular sea ; only the Wicked King 
had put a glass lid over it, and screwed it on for all eternity. 

Dick stared at the Sea of Glass for a minute very ner- 
vously and doubtfully; then, thinking of Humpty Dumpty, he 
stepped manfully out upon it. It was very slippery, but for a 
little while he got along fairly well by holding his hands out 
to balance himself and keeping his legs very far apart. 

Then suddenly he stumbled a little and swayed, and as 
he did so, something slipped from his pocket, and fell with a 
sharp “ cling ! ” on the glass. It was his jack-knife ! He 
remembered that he had wanted to bring it with him, and 
that Bizzybuzz had promised it to him, and here it was ! 
He stooped and picked it up, and then stopped a moment to 
open it and examine all its blades and corkscrews, and to be 
quite sure that it really was his own long-lost jack-knife. 

96 


UNDER THE SEA OF GLASS 

Now, the one thing you must not do on the Sea of Glass 
is to stand still. Dick felt his feet slip from under him, and 
put out his hands wildly. He lost his balance, fell, and the 
sharp blade of the open knife splintered down through the 
glass, with a sound like the smashing of three dozen fine wine- 
glasses. . . . The next moment, Dick, still holding the fatal 
knife, was falling down, down, down, through cold green 
water. Strange to say, he did not feel at all like drowning ; 
but it was very cold and dark and unpleasant, and he heartily 
wished that he had never had a jack-knife. 

Down — down — down he went, and passed a shoal of 
big fishes who made dreadful faces at him as he whizzed by. 
Suddenly, before he had entirely grasped what had happened 
to him, he found himself on solid ground again, at the bottom 
of the sea, rather jarred but otherwise unhurt, and was staring 
at the oddest sort of creature that he had ever seen. 

This Creature was sitting just in front of him, in a sort of 
cave, lined with sea-shells and pink and white coral. On 
every side was growing sea-grass of scarlet and purple and 
green, and there were also sea-flowers and waving weeds of all 
kinds and colours. Quivering jelly-fish of pink and orange 
floated through the dim water, and star-fish lay about upon 
the pale, deep-sea sand. Sword-fish, porpoises, and other 
ocean things peered in upon the scene, with their queer, 
fixed goggle eyes. The light seemed to be filtered through a 
deep green shade. 

The Creature himself was shaped like a man, but he was 
97 


7 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


covered completely with silver-green scales, and had hair like 
long, lank sea-weed. His eyes were as cold and pale and 
glassy as those of the fishes, and his expression, slight as it 
was, was entirely disagreeable. 

“This is most annoying,” he remarked, surveying Dick. 
“ What are you? ” 

“ Do you mean ‘ Who are you ? ’ ” asked Dick. 

“No,” said the Creature. “What!” 

“ Oh ! ” said Dick. “ I am a little boy.” 

“I never heard of it,” said the Creature. “I don’t think 
I like you. You may go ! ” 

“Certainly!” replied Dick, meekly. “Do — do you 
mind telling me how?” 

“ I don’t care,” said the Creature. After that, conversa- 
tion stopped for a while, and they merely stared at each other 
in silence. At last the Scaled One spoke again, this time 
very crossly : 

“ Why don’t you go ? ” 

“ I ’d be very glad to ! ” said poor Dick. “ But you see, I 
don’t know how to go. Would it be too much trouble for 
you to tell me how to get to the City of the Wicked King ? ” 

“What!” roared the Creature, so suddenly and violently 
that Dick jumped. “ I tell anyone anything about the Wicked 
King? Don’t you know that he is the deadliest enemy that 
I have?” 

“Why, no!” answered Dick, a little disturbed by this 
outburst. “ Won’t you tell me about it, please? ” 

98 


UNDER THE SEA OF GLASS 


His new acquaintance looked fiercely at him for a moment, 
and then became suddenly plunged in utter melancholy. 

“ Ah ! ” he sighed, while a tear oozed out of his eye and 
made a bubble in the green water, “ ’t is a sad tale ! Listen, 
and hear the sorrowful story of the Sea Kobold! ” 

“ Is that you?” asked Dick. 

“ Who else ? ” said the Scaly Creature. Then in mourn- 
ful tones he began : 

“ I am the Sea Kobold. I own this sea, and everything 
in it. Once I owned the surface of the sea too, but that 
was long ago. I owned the pretty green waves with silver 
crests, that break in the bright daytime, and the big black 
ones that come at night in the dark of the moon. And I 
owned too the little pink ones that you see at sunset, when the 
West is burning up all the horrid things that have 'happened 
during the day. 

“ I took a fatherly interest in the little boats that floated 
there, and in the pretty, long-haired mermaids who swam up 
into the moonlight to sing love-songs to the sailors. The 
fishes that leaped and circled and shone in the purple light 
of dusk were all my friends, and the big and small winds 
knew me for their master. And I had a little son, — a 
beautiful, scaly son, born in the sea, and fated to inherit my 
power and my great sea-kingdom. But all that was very, 
very long ago !” 

He wept. 

“That was surely very nice,” said Dick, to encourage him. 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Nice ! It was — ” The Sea Kobold sought for a word. 

“ Bully ? ” suggested Dick. 

“ I never heard the adjective,” said the Sea Kobold, primly. 
“But I will accept it for the moment. It was bully! — 
What was I saying ? Ah, yes ! It is a very sad story. 
The Wicked King lives, as you must know, on the further 
shore of this sea. He has a very pretty daughter, with whom 
Prince Humpty Dumpty used to be in love.” 

“ Humpty Dumpty ! ” exclaimed Dick, now all ears. 

“Yes. — Don’t interrupt, please! It distracts my mind. 
— Well, the Wicked King wanted her to marry someone 
else, — a gentleman named Grump, I believe, — and forbade 
her to even see Humpty Dumpty. But of course the lovers 
would not obey him. He was so cruel and unkind always 
that his daughter did not think it wrong to do as he had told 
her not to ; and, for my part, I did not, either. 

“ Humpty Dumpty came every night and sang love-songs 
to her, and one night he came in a beautiful little boat, made 
out of a big shell, with a sail spun entirely out of rose-leaves 
of different colours. And down by the shore he sang the 
very prettiest song that he had ever sung — or that any one 
else had ever sung, for that matter — and that I know, for I 
was listening. A very pretty song it was, to be sure ! 

“We were great friends, he and I, and I held his boat 
between two quiet waves when he went on shore to meet the 
Princess. And down she came from the City Wall Gate, 
holding up her skirts daintily and looking as sweet as possible. 


ioo 


UNDER THE SEA OF GLASS 

And they got into the sea-shell boat, and I puffed a breeze to 
fill the rose-leaf sail, and off they sailed. 

“ But just then who should appear upon the shore but the 
Wicked King himself, and Grump with him ! Grump — 
who was half a wizard and a very disagreeable person, besides 
being very much in love with the little Princess — jumped 
into the sea and swam after the boat. The Wicked King 
stood on the shore and raved and threatened and swore. 

“ I tried my best to drown Grump, but he would n’t sink 
any more than a piece of cork, and in spite of all my efforts 
he overtook the boat and pulled it slowly back to the shore. 
Grump made some magic passes over the prow of the little 
sea-shell skiff, and — oh, ’t is too sad ! — when the boat 
reached the shore, there was nothing in it but the Princess, 
crying like a baby, and beside her a big egg. 

“ They put poor Humpty Dumpty, in his new shape, on 
the City Wall, and shut the pretty little Princess up in a high 
tower. And then they took my little boy Mudge, and made 
him a prisoner too, just to punish me for having helped the 
young Prince. And last of all ” — the Sea Kobold choked — 
“ they put a glass lid over my sea, and screwed it down tight. 
And now I can never, never go up to the surface any more. 
And there are no more waves, and no more boats, and no 
more mermaids singing in the moonlight to the sailors, and — 
no — more — ” The Sea Kobold dissolved into tears. 

“Oh, cheer up!” said Dick, absent-mindedly. He was 
too much interested in the Sea Kobold’s story to pay much 


101 


HUMPTY DUM PTY 

attention to his grief. “ Do you happen to know just where 
the Princess is now ? ” he asked. 

The Sea Kobold shook his head. 

“ No,” he answered. “I know that she is in the highest 
tower in the Red City.” 

“The highest tower ; that’s something to know, anyway,” 
said Dick, thoughtfully. He was glad to know that in the 
Red City he would have one person ready to help him if it 
were possible. 

“And now,” he added, “would you — would you be so- 
kind, please, as to tell me how to get to the Red City?” 

“ I ’m sure / don’t know any way,” said the Sea Kobold„ 
mournfully. “ Since that glass cover was screwed on — By 
the bye, how did you get here ? ” he asked suddenly. 

“ I fell, and my knife broke a hole in the glass,” explained 
Dick. He showed the offending blade, and then shut and 
dropped it into his pocket. 

“ Well, go back through it, then,” said the Sea Kobold.. 
“ While we are on the subject, I may tell you that I am glad 
you have made a hole. I can go up now and then to look 
out, though, of course, I shall never dare to stay very long, for 
fear the Wicked King or Grump might see me and plan some 
fresh trouble for me. Now good-bye ; I can’t be bothered 
with you any more.” 

And he closed his fishy eyes and appeared to sleep. 

Since there seemed nothing more to be gained by staying 
where he was, Dick turned his back on the Sea Kobold and 


102 


UNDER THE SEA OF GLASS 


his cave, and walked off among the rocks and the big ocean- 
trees that were scattered along the bottom of the sea. 

He felt rather discouraged and lonely, for he could not 
imagine how he should ever get up again to the hole he had 
made in the glass. It occurred to him that he might climb 
one of the queer, tall, lanky sea-trees ; but when he stopped 
to look, he could see that the top did not nearly reach to 
the surface. What was going to happen to him next ? he 
wondered. 

He soon found out. 



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X 

A Fish Tea- Party 






















































o 


o 


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CHAPTER X 

A Fish Tea-Party 

S Dick walked along on the dim brown-gray 
sand on the bottom of the sea, he began to 
notice, as his eyes grew more and more accus- 
tomed to the faint greenish light, the many 
marvels which were all around him. Never, 
in after years, could he quite recall all the 
strange and beautiful things that he saw during that submarine 
stroll, but what he did remember made him long many times 
to visit the sea-floor once again, and look at the wonderful 
sights which were to be seen there. 

Besides the masses of many-coloured sea-weed, and the 
odd, bright-hued sea-flowers that grew there, there were whole 
forests of coral, snow-white, pale yellow, and deep scarlet. 
There were narrow rock-paths where gold glittered in the 

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crevices, and great lumps of brown and yellow agate gleamed 
dimly through the water. There were heaps of pearls, — as 
though some mysterious sea-miser had been collecting and 
hoarding them ; and garnets that made the water all around 
look as though it were dyed crimson. The sea-moss of purple 
and red and dull green hung waveringly from the rocks, and 
lay in patches on the sand-floor, like strange, gaudy rugs. 

The sea-trees moved slowly with the faint motion of the 
deep-sea currents, and in the distance looked like dark-green 
shadows, stirring across a sheet of glass. Everywhere were 
shells — large and small, pink, white, black, and gray, lying 
at his feet, lodged in niches in the high, black rocks, floating, 
caught in tangles of dull sea-weed. And everywhere, too, 
were fishes, some of them quite ordinary-looking creatures, but 
others different from any that Dick had ever seen even in 
picture-books. 

Suddenly the rock-walled path which he had been follow- 
ing came to an end, and he found himself in a huge, green- 
washed clearing, with distant walls and a clean-swept, sandy 
floor. This place was filled with all sorts of strange sea- 
creatures, — principally fish, although there were several queer 
things that did not look as though they belonged in the 
natural history books. 

In the very centre of the big crowded circle sat an old 
woman, in a dark green cloak and hood, which floated away 
from her skinny face and figure whenever she waved her arm 
— which she did very often. For she seemed to be the 

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A FISH TEA-PARTY 


mistress of ceremonies down here, and all the other creatures 
listened with respect to what she said. When she saw Dick, 
she beckoned to him, and he went up to her feeling even 
more frightened than when he had faced Mother Goose or 
the Sea Kobold. 

“ I am the Old Witch of the Sea,” she said. “ And my 
husband is the Old Man of the Sea. Have you ever read 
‘ Sinbad the Sailor ’ ? ” 

Dick shook his head. 

“ In that case,” said the Witch, thoughtfully, “ I am not 
sure whether or not you would better stay to tea.” 

“Oh, is this a party?” asked Dick eagerly, looking 
around him with new interest. 

“Yes,” said the Witch, proudly. “I give a tea-party 
every week for the fish. The Sea Kobold, the real ruler of 
this sea, has become so bad-tempered, since they screwed him 
in here, that he won’t do a single thing for the amusement of 
his poor unfortunate subjects; so, of course, I feel it my duty 
to do what I can to cheer them up. Do you know him, by 
the way ? ” 

“ The Sea Kobold ? ” said Dick, a little bewildered. “ Yes, 
I — I — have met him. He didn’t seem to like me very 
much, though.” 

“ Dear, dear ! ” said the Witch. “ Then I ’ll warrant that 
he never even offered you a cup of tea ! ” 

“ No, indeed ! ” answered Dick. 

“ Dear, dear ! ” exclaimed the Witch again. “Then you 

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must certainly come to my tea-party, even if you have never 
heard of my husband, the Old Man of the Sea.” 

She motioned Dick to sit down on the sand, between two 
horrid-looking fishes, and began to bustle about hospitably, 
among a number of queer-shaped shells which, Dick gathered, 
took the place of cups at fish tea-parties. 

“ With or without salt ? ” asked the Witch. 

Dick started. 

“ I — I beg your pardon,” he stammered. “ What did 
you say ? ” 

“ I said , ‘with or without salt ’ ! ” snapped the Witch, 
holding a pink and orange shell in her hand. 

“Without, I think, — thank you,” answered Dick, as 
politely as he could. 

“You’re making a great mistake,” the Witch told him 
seriously. “ Never take tea in the sea without salt ! ” 

Dick said he would take salt, after all, and the Witch 
brought him the pink and orange shell, filled with a pale 
liquid which tasted as though it were made of sea-weed. As 
a matter of fact, it was made of sea-weed. 

“ Why does n’t it spill out ? ” he asked. 

“ Why does n’t what spill out ?” said the Witch. 

“The — the tea,” said Dick, wondering more and more 
how you could drink liquid when you were sitting under the 
water. 

“ Because there is n’t anywhere to spill it ! ” said the Witch. 
“ Stupid ! ” 


no 


A FISH TEA-PARTY 


Dick drank his salt tea, and found that it tasted better 
after you had become a little used to it. The fish seemed to 
enjoy it immensely. 

As they all sipped their tea, Dick had a chance to look at 
his fellow-guests more closely. They were a queer collection. 

On one side of him sat a big skate-fish, which looked so 
ridiculous that Dick was afraid to stare at him long lest he 
should laugh out loud. He looked just like a big pie-plate, 
with an eye set in each side, and the funniest little wisp of a 
tail that you ever saw. On the other was a shark, with a gray 
back, white waistcoat effect, a square head, and two enormous 
sets of saw-like teeth. Next came a mackerel, all brown and 
dappled ; then a bluefish, almost black in colour ; then a silver 
salmon ; then a huge-mouthed shad ; then a haddock, a cod, 
and a porpoise which seemed to have some trouble in over- 
coming its desire to keep jumping all the time ; then a butter- 
fish, — flat like a small pancake ; then a short, stumpy porgie ; 
then a bull-head, thick and dull-looking, with two little deli- 
cate horns on his ugly forehead ; then a sea-trout, with the 
prettiest suit of orange-spotted brown and deep pink ; then a 
swordfish, waving his sword-snout about in what looked like 
a very dangerous manner ; then a bass, and a sunfish with fins 
set above and below, like enormous sun-rays. 

On the farther side of the great circle there were a number 
of even more extraordinary fish. There was an octopus, or 
devil-fish, — the kind that try to pull sailors out of their boats 
and crush them to death with their long, strong, innumerable 


1 1 1 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

arms ; a tarpon, huge and beautiful ; a cuttle-fish, floating in a 
sort of inky halo ; and, far in the background, a monster 
whale. He had an appetite in keeping with his size, and the 
Old Witch of the Sea had to take him fifty shells of tea before 
he was even sufficiently satisfied to blow his thanks in a great 
spurt of foaming water. 

Dick also noticed a number of green lobsters and crabs 
of all sizes, and scattered about on the ground were masses of 
oysters, clams, mussels, and scollops, — their small round shells 
making the prettiest sort of a pattern in blue, gray, and black. 
Then, too, there were countless eels, wriggling their long 
grayish-green snaky bodies through the water on all sides. 

But after a while all the sea-weed tea was drunk, and even 
the whale swam lumberingly away, and all the smaller fishes 
wriggled their thanks to the Witch and departed likewise, and 
Dick was left quite alone with his hostess. 

“ And now,” said the Old Witch of the Sea, “ what can I 
do for you, little mortal boy?” 

Dick explained his trouble, and asked her if she could not 
possibly help him to reach the surface of the water and con- 
tinue his journey to the City of the Wicked King. 

“ No,” said the Witch, shaking her head thoughtfully.. 
“ I am wise and old, — oh, very, very old, indeed ! But I 
cannot help you in this. But I can take you to someone who 
can help you ; only you must come with me obediently, and 
do everything that I tell you to, and not stop to talk with the 
sea-folk on your way.” 


1 12 


A FISH TEA-PARTY 


“Oh, indeed, indeed I will do just what you tell me to ! ” 
cried Dick, earnestly. “ May we not start at once, please ? 
And — and — ” he added hesitatingly, “ I am very much 
obliged for the tea.” 

The Old Witch of the Sea bowed with dignity, and said, 
“ You are entirely welcome, I am sure,” in a very grand way. 
Then, as they began to walk on across the sand, she proceeded 
to talk further about herself, — her great age and her even 
greater wisdom. 

“You see,” said the Witch, “/ am one of the oldest in- 
habitants of the ocean. I it was who gave Hans Andersen’s 
poor Little Mermaid her pretty feet, that hurt her so terribly 
until she was turned into sea-foam. I told Mr. Andersen 
about the matter myself, by the bye. And I fitted out Sinbad’s 
Cave. And / sent word to the three Rhine maidens to come 
here and live after they had gotten back their gold. I ex- 
plained that though Alberich and the gods and all those other 
horrid interfering creatures were very properly dead and gone, 
they never could tell what might happen in that Rhine neigh- 
bourhood, — horrid, scandalous place, I call it, — so they came 
here to live. Would you like to call on them ? They live 
just around the corner.” 

And without waiting for Dick to answer, she whisked him 
around a big black rock, and into the presence of three very 
pretty young women, who were swimming about and singing 
a soft, rippling song. In a cleft on the rock glowed some- 
thing bright and yellow. Dick did not know then that it was 
the famous Rhine gold. 

8 1 1 3 


HUM PTY DUMPTY 


“ I want to present to you — ” began the Witch ; but the 
three young women only cried, “We are busy guarding 
our gold, — don’t interrupt us!” And they began to sing 
and swim faster than ever. 

“ Mannerless creatures ! ” grumbled the Witch, as they 
went on their way once more. “ Almost as bad as that 
Lorelei girl. She lives farther down the rock-street, so we 
won’t call on her. She ’s just as ungrateful as the rest* though 
I got her here too.” 

At that moment a crowd of children came romping by. 
They were queer-looking little things, half of their bodies 
made up of scales and fins and fish-tails, and the other half of 
rosy pink and white flesh and blood. With them came a 
number of strange fishy animals that barked. 

“ What are they ?” asked Dick. 

“ Mer-children with their pets, the sea-dogs,” responded 
the Witch. 

“ Come and play with us,” cried the Mer-children when 
they saw Dick. “ Come and play with the starfish, and have 
a ride on one of our sea-horses.” 

But the Witch would not let him join them, even for a 
moment. 

“ The Mer-people are dangerous folk,” she told him. 
“ These children are not like the Water Babies of whom you 
may have heard. If you played with these too long, you would 
lose your own human soul, and become a Make Believe person, 
like the rest of us.” 

1 14 


A FISH TEA-PARTY 

They went on in silence for a minute or two. 

“ Oh, how pretty ! ” cried Dick, suddenly. 

He pointed to a group of lovely maidens and handsome 
young men (all with bodies that ended in shining fish-tails) 
who were swimming gracefully through the water, while two 
sad-faced men, with wreaths of pale blue flowers in their hair, 
played a soft, slow melody upon harps. 

“ The Mermen and Mermaids are having a ball, ,, said the 
Witch. “And they have induced two of the Necker-folk to 
play for them. The Necker are the saddest race of elves in 
the water, for they are always longing for souls to be given 
them. Even while they play for the gay Mer-people to 
dance, they are thinking of the souls they have not yet 
won.” 

They passed all sorts of queer beasts as they journeyed on. 
There were not only sea-horses and sea-dogs, but sea-serpents 
that seemed to have been painted all the colours of the rain- 
bow, and shiny, emerald-green sea-dragons, and one terrible 
great thing, which seemed to be half asleep, and about which 
the Witch said that a gentleman called Tennyson had once 
written a poem. She said that the name of the Thing was 
the Kraken. 

So on and on they went, until Dick’s mind had become a 
sort of vague jumble of queer fishy sights, and it seemed as 
though he had lived forever at the bottom of the sea. 

And suddenly he discovered that he was alone ! The Old 
Witch of the Sea had left him, and he was all by himself in 

ii5 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


the awful dark green depths of the ocean that lay under the 
Sea of Glass ! 

What had become of his guide ? Had she left him on 
purpose, or had she been called away, in some queer fairy way 
which he did not understand ? Or was it possible that she had 
indeed brought him to the place where he was to be given the 
help he had asked ? 

He looked about him on every side, and even up into the 
green water over his head, but he could not see even a fish ! 
He was utterly alone, this time ! Now, at last, everything was 
quite hopeless. 

“ Dear, dear, dear ! ” cried a sweet, half-mocking voice 
beside him. “ What is the matter ? Why do you look so 
sad, little mortal boy ? ” 



1 16 


XI 

Into the City oj the IV icked King 











CHAPTER XI 


Into the City of the Wicked King 



ICK turned, and saw a very pretty lady, in a 
green gown that floated about her in the water, 
and bare feet that lightly pressed the sand. 

“ I want to get to the Red City,” he ex- 
plained simply. 

“Well, come along!” said the pretty lady, 
with a musical little laugh. And she picked him up in her 
arms and held him close. “ Now shut your eyes ! ” 

He did as she told him to ; and she kissed him lightly. 
Her lips felt warm, even through the cold water. “ Now 
open your eyes ! ” she commanded. 

Dick stared about him. He was no longer at the bottom 
of the sea, but on solid dry land again, just in front of a big 
iron gate, with a gray stone wall stretching on either side, and 

1 19 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


the tops of a number of crimson houses and turrets showing 
beyond the wall. 

The pretty lady put Dick down, and laughed again. 

“ Here you are ! ” she said, “ at the very gate of the Red 
City.” 

“But — but — ” gasped Dick. “What became of the 
Old Witch of the Sea?” 

The lady laughed even more merrily than before. 

“ I am the Old Witch of the Sea,” she said. “ Oh, I am 
ever so many persons ! It is my pet game, playing at being 
all sorts of different people ! Good-bye, little mortal boy. I 
have an idea that we shall be very good friends one of these 
days, and I’m glad that we met! Good-bye, — and don’t 
forget that you have been kissed by the Fairy of Fancy.” 

“ Is that your name ? ” asked Dick, looking at her gravely. 

“It’s one of my names. Your sister Bab calls me the Idle 
Princess, and if you asked Meg, she would say that I was the 
Lady Dreams-Come-True. You’ll know me by a hundred 
other names by and by ! . . . Good luck, and good-bye ! ” 
And she danced away from him laughing, her golden hair 
tossing in the wind. In a moment she had disappeared. 

“ And now,” thought Dick, “ to get into that Red City ! ” 

While he was thinking this problem over, he heard a voice 
cry : “ Good-fortune, Dick ! I ’m off to see how Bab and 
Meg are getting on. You have done well to get here so soon ! 
Good luck ! Good luck ! ” 

It was Bizzybuzz ! Before Dick could even answer him, 


1 20 



“SHE WAS SURELY THE £)UEEN OF THE FAIRY FOLK” 





INTO THE CITY OF THE WICKED KING 


he was off, a mere glimmering green speck in the distant light. 
Dick felt more cheerful after seeing him, but he wished that 
he might have stopped long enough to advise him as to the 
best way of entering the city. 

For lack of fuller directions, he started to follow the wall 
for a time, to see if there might not be an opening. And as 
he walked, he suddenly heard a voice just over his head, 
whispering in saddest accents, “ Oh, shall I never be free ? ” 
Dick looked up, startled. There, at the top of the wall, was 
Humpty Dumpty himself, at last! 

As we have heard before, Humpty Dumpty was an Egg, — 
a huge white, smooth egg. The only thing about him that 
was different from other eggs was that he had features ; that 
is, he had features of a sort, and also limbs, though very 
queer ones. On the pallid white surface of the egg-shell was 
sketched a large mournful face which looked as though it had 
been drawn in lead-pencil ; and two little thin arms and two 
little thin legs stood out from the shell like spider-limbs. He 
was sighing and moaning in a very pathetic way, and Dick felt 
extremely sorry for him. 

“ Oh, dear ! Oh, dear ! ” groaned poor Humpty Dumpty, 
addressing the air and the sky. “ Will no one ever come to 
rescue me ? ” 

“Yes, indeed!” cried Dick, eagerly. “I have come to 
rescue you ! ” 

“ What ! ” exclaimed Humpty Dumpty, “ a Rescuer at 
last ? Let me look ! Oh, let me look ! ” 


12 1 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


He gazed down at Dick, and then his expression became 
even sadder than before. 

“ What could you do ? ” he asked in deep depression. 
“You — a little mortal boy ! ” 

“ I know I ’m little,” said Dick, feeling rather hurt. “ But 
your mother thinks that I can help you get away, anyway ! ” 

“ Did my mother send you ? ” questioned Humpty Dumpty, 
in surprise. 

“Yes, indeed!” said Dick. “And, oh, dear Prince 
Humpty Dumpty, won’t you please let me try to help 
you ? ” 

“Oh, you’re welcome to try /” said Prince Humpty 
Dumpty, gloomily. “ There ’s not the slightest objection to 
your doing that ! Only I feel it my duty to warn you that 
you won’t like it in this place. It is n’t at all a pleasant city 
to live in, and the King is a most annoying person ! ” 

“Well,” said Dick, “I don’t expect to have much fun, 
you know ; not what you ’d really call fun, that is ! But I 
want to get into that city most awfully. Can you think of 
a way ? The wall is pretty high to climb.” 

“Oh, it is very easy to get in ! ’ ’ declared the Egg, with 
dark meaning. “ Tour trouble will be in getting out !” 

“ I I suppose so,” said Dick, and for a moment felt just 
a wee bit queer. Suppose that the Wicked King or this 
charming person called Grump should take it into his head 
to turn him into an egg, — or something even worse ? But 
that cowardly thought only lasted for a moment, for Dick was 


122 


INTO THE CITY OF THE WICKED KING 


a brave little boy, and aloud he cried cheerfully, “ Well, tell 
me how to get in, anyway ! ” 

“Climb up the flowering vine, ,, said Humpty Dumpty; 
“ repeat in each blossom, as you pass, the words, ‘ Help me ! 
Help me ! ’ That s all.” 

Dick noticed that the outside of the wall was covered 
with pretty climbing flowers of a bright red colour. It 
looked like a morning-glory vine, only the blooms were 
scarlet. He put his foot into the tangle of green at the bot- 
tom, and cried boldly, “ Help me ! Help me ! ” into the 
first red cup that he saw. In a moment more he was climb- 
ing up as easily and merrily as though the delicate tendrils 
were a strong ladder. Once at the top he thanked the 
flowers politely, and shook Humpty Dumpty’s thin spidery 
hand. 

“ Why can’t you get down that same way ? ” he inquired. 

“ Looking like this ? ” said the unfortunate Egg. “ Go 
home to my mother in an egg-shell? Never! Besides, I’ll 
never go until I can take the Princess with me. And besides 
all that , you just try to move me — that ’s all ! ” 

Dick tried his best, and soon found that the great Egg 
was quite stationary. 

“ Without the help of some sort of a spell I can’t move 
nor be moved,” said Humpty Dumpty, with sad calm. “You 
see why / have n’t escaped, don’t you ? ” 

Dick felt more determined than ever to find the Princess 
and join forces with her. Surely, since she was in love with 

123 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

Humpty Dumpty. she must be able to suggest some way of 
setting him free. 

He jumped down into the Red City, and, waving a 
farewell to Humpty Dumpty, he ran away in search of the 
Princess. 

“ The tallest tower in the city,” he repeated to himself, 
remembering the Sea Kobold. “ That ought to be easy to 
find.” 

He looked about him anxiously. The Red City of the 
Wicked King was a place of many and narrow streets, that 
turned, every other moment, in the queerest, crookedest ways 
imaginable, and sometimes brought up in short dark alleys that 
frightened Dick. He wandered about for some time between 
the silent dark-red buildings, — everything was crimson in this 
horrid city, — and for a long time he did not meet a living 
soul. He wondered what had become of the people who 
must live in these funny red houses. They surely could n’t 
all be dead, or sick, or asleep, or in prison, or away visiting in 
the country. There must be some few who were shopping, 
or paying calls, or attending to their business, or looking out 
of their front doors, or taking a walk. Yet there seemed to 
be no one at all. 

There was something really rather horrid and frightening 
in these little silent red streets, with so many corners and turn- 
ings and so many blind alleys (they are little short streets 
only open at one end) and shut-up-looking houses. Dick 
found himself hurrying faster than before, and looking around 

124 


INTO THE CITY OF THE WICKED KING 

every now and then, as though something unpleasant and big 
were behind him. 

Where did the Wicked King live? he wondered; and 
where, oh, where was the highest tower in the city ? 

At last, as he was hastening along, he happened to peer 
into a window that was nearly on a level with his own head. 
Of course it is always rude to look into people’s windows, and 
Dick knew it ; but things were so very dreadful, and he was so 
anxious to find some human being, that he thought that this 
once he might do it. 

And there, gazing out of the window, was a little boy of 
about his own age. 

Dick stopped at once, and said “ Hollo ! ” and the other 
little boy said the same ; and then the two little boys stood 
and stared at each other. 

“ My name ’s Dick,” said one. 

“ Mine ’s Mudge,” said the other. 

“ What! ” cried Dick. “Not the Sea Kobold’s son?” 

“ Yes, indeed ! ” sighed the little boy. “ And I ’m kept a 
prisoner here in the Red City, because my father made the 
Wicked King angry. I am very tired of being a prisoner; I 
want to go back and live in the sea. They took all my lovely 
scales away, too ; and I do so want them back ! ” 

Dick was very sorry for poor Mudge, but he was glad they 
had met, and he asked him to tell him the way to the highest 
tower in the city. 

“ You go on to the right, always to the right,” said 

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HUMPTY DUMPTY 


Mudge, “ until you come to the Palace ; and then you walk 
around the Palace three times, moving to the left ; and then 
you stop under a tree with green flowers on it ; and then you 
look up, and you will see the Princess in her tower/’ 

“ Oh, dear ! ” said Dick. “ I ’ll never remember all 
that ! Could you not come with me and show me ? Oh, I 
forgot ; you ’re a prisoner ! ” 

“ Oh,” said Mudge, “ I ’m not a prisoner in that way. I 
can get out of this house whenever I want to. It is the city 
that I can’t leave. I ’ll come with you if you like. I often 
go to see the Princess and tell her how Humpty Dumpty is 
looking.” 

He climbed out of the window as he spoke. 

“But doesn’t he always look pretty much the same?” 
asked Dick. 

“ Oh, yes ! ” said Mudge, as they set out. “ But, even so, 
she likes to hear about him. I just say, ‘ He ’s as well as 
usual, your Highness ! ’ and that satisfies her.” 

“ Is she a nice Princess?” asked Dick. 

“ Oh, yes ; she ’s rather small, and pretty, and kind ; and 
her father ’s horrid to her. She wears lovely things, and sits 
and cries in the tower all day.” 

Dick felt ready to cry himself, when he thought of the 
poor, pretty, small, kind Princess who was in so much 
trouble. Perhaps he could rescue her as well as Humpty 
Dumpty ! He became quite excited at the thought. And 
Mudge — he must be rescued, of course ! It was really 

126 


won- 


INTO THE CITY OF THE WICKED KING 


derful, the number of people in the Red City who needed 
a champion like himself! 

“Why are there no people about ?” he asked Mudge. 

“Because,” Mudge answered, “everyone is too much 
afraid of the Wicked King. When he is in a bad temper, 
he has people’s heads chopped off without a moment’s notice, 
and the citizens think it wiser and healthier to keep indoors 
as much as possible.” 

In time they reached the Palace, — a huge, splendid build- 
ing which seemed to be made chiefly of rubies, — and, after 
walking around it three times, always to the left, they looked 
up at last through the branches of the green-blossomed tree. 

And there, sure enough, was the highest tower in the city, 
— a tall, tall tower, with one little window about half- 
way up. 

“H ere is where the Princess lives,” explained Mudge. 
And then he called softly, “ Princess Star ! Princess Star ! ” 



127 












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■ 






































j • 


































































XII 


Princess Star 


































. 








































































































m 




CHAPTER XII 


Princess Star 



ICK could not imagine how the Princess could 
hear, ’way up in the air so high ; but in a 
minute a pretty, frowning face appeared, lean- 
ing out over the window-sill. A sweet, rather 
cross, little voice — you could hear every word 
quite clearly — said, “ You bad Mudge ! why 
did you not come sooner ?” 

Then she caught sight of Dick, and gave a little scream. 
“ Who s that with you ? ” 

“ Someone sent by Mother Goose to help Prince Humpty 
Dumpty,” said Mudge. 

131 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

“ Mother Goose, my future mother-in-law ! ” exclaimed 
the Princess, and sighed. “ I should like to see him closer,” 
she added, and was silent for a moment, as though thinking. 
But in that moment something happened. 

A sound of voices and tramping feet echoed around a 
corner of the Palace, and the Princess suddenly pulled in her 
head, while Mudge as promptly took to his heels. So Dick 
was left alone, for he was too bewildered to run at first ; and 
by the time that he had made up his mind to try to escape, 
he was entirely surrounded by some fierce-looking men-at-arms, 
all dressed in bright red. 

“What are you doing here?” demanded the leader, 
ferociously. 

“ Stealing flowers from our tree ? ” suggested one of the 
others. 

Dick did not know what to say. He hated to lie, but 
there was the Princess to be thought of, and Humpty 
Dumpty, and Mother Goose, and Meg, and Bab, and dozens 
of other considerations. So he decided not to tell quite all 
the truth. 

“I — they are very pretty,” he admitted, hanging his 
head and feeling very much ashamed ; for his many faults 
had never included lying before. 

“ It is against the law, and you must go to prison,” de- 
clared the soldier. “ Probably the Wicked King, our master, 
will have you beheaded without delay ; and, for my part, I 
think that even that will be better than you deserve ! ” 


132 


PRINCESS STAR 


Dick felt so sad and angry at the thought of failure — to 
say nothing of the danger that he was in — that he could 
have cried ; only, being a boy, of course he did n't ! 

But he wished hard for some idea to come to him that 
would show him a way out of his trouble. And suddenly a 
big Dragon-Fly whizzed up to him, apparently on its way to 
the green flowers on the tree overhead. 

With a sudden impulse Dick whispered “Help me, 
dear, good, kind Dragon-Fly ! " as he had to the flowers. 

The Dragon-Fly wheeled in its whirring flight, and flew 
close to his lips. 

“Tell Bizzybuzz, the Goblin," murmured Dick; and the 
insect darted swiftly away. Dick could not tell whether or 
no it had heard him or would repeat his message, but he felt 
a trifle happier. 

“ Come on, Thief! " said the man-at-arms, pulling Dick 
along by the arm. 

At this point the Princess stuck her head out of the turret 
window once more. 

“ What have you there ? " she asked very sweetly. 

The men answered her most respectfully ; for though she 
was a prisoner in a turret of her father's castle, they all looked 
up to her with something approaching adoration, — some- 
thing which, with all their fear, they never gave her cruel 
father. 

“ This is a thief, your Highness," said the head man in 
red, bowing very low. “ He was about to steal some of the 


133 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


flowers from the beautiful tree that grows under your High- 
ness’s window ! ” 

“ Why, the horrid little wretch ! ” exclaimed the Princess, 
pretending to be extremely angry. “ Just you bring him up 
to me ! I should like to look at any little boy who could be 
so terribly wicked ! ” 

“We must take him to prison at once, your Highness,” 
protested the man. But she persisted. 

“ I want to see him ! ” she said. “ I ’d like to box his 
wicked ears myself ! That lovely tree ! Why, looking at it 
and counting its blooms every morning is one of the few pleas- 
ures I have ! ” And she pretended to sob bitterly. “ Bring 
him up!” she cried again. “Bring him up, I say!” 

“Oh, well!” said the man-at-arms, with a shrug of his 
shoulders. “Of course, if your august Highness insists — ” 
And Dick was taken into the Palace by a side door, and 
marched up ever so many stairs to the Princess’s room. 

There they found, keeping guard, several men, who let 
them pass, looking quite amazed. And so they came at last 
into the Princess Star’s tower-prison. 

The Princess Star was really a very pretty little princess, 
though she did not look particularly cheerful nor even re- 
markably good-tempered ; and her room itself was a marvel 
of gorgeous disorder. Flowers and jewels and splendid stuffs 
were flung about as though the Princess had been venting her 
temper upon them. There was a parrot on a perch, a yellow 
cat on a cushion, a big green lizard on the end of a gold 

134 


PRINCESS STAR 


chain, a little silver cage of queer birds, and a big crystal basin 
full of beautiful fishes of all sorts swimming about in rose- 
coloured water. 

In the centre of everything sat the Princess on a little gold 
stool with three legs (for all the world like a milking-stool !), 
dressed in some very magnificent robes and gems and with 
her crown somewhat awry. 

When she saw Dick, she pretended to fly into a rage and 
to try to box his ears ; but finally she very cleverly pretended 
to calm down, and declared that he was n’t a bad-looking little 
boy — for a thief! And then she said that she needed a page 
to look after her pets, and announced that she would keep him. 
The head man-at-arms objected, of course, saying that he must 
take the thief to prison to await the pleasure of the Wicked 
King. But at that the Princess flew into another rage, — real, 
this time, — and threw things at him — beginning with a 
jewelled hour-glass and ending with a mandolin — until he 
was very glad to leave the royal young lady’s apartments on 
any terms. 

So they all backed away as fast as they possibly could, 
and shut the door very tight behind them. And Dick was 
left alone with pretty, bad-tempered, disorderly Princess 
Star. 

“ There ! ” she exclaimed, flinging herself into a sort of 
throne-like chair that was made of silver and inlaid with gold. 
“Now we can talk sense at last! Tell me at once who you 
are and why you are here ! ” 


135 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


So Dick told her obediently, and she listened with the 
deepest attention. 

“ You ’re a dear little boy,” she said at last, “ and you may 
sit on my lap if you want to.” 

Dick did not want to, for he thought it babyish ; but he 
hated to seem rude. So he accepted her invitation, and found 
that a Princess’s lap was very much like other people’s ; it 
reminded him a little too much of his mother’s, and made him 
homesick. So he got down just as soon as he could politely. 

“ And now,” said the Princess, “ what are we to do next ? 
I wish we knew where the spell can be found that can move 
my poor Humpty Dumpty from his dreadful place on the top 
of the city wall.” 

“ So do I — ” Dick was beginning, when there was a 
sudden sound outside, the door flew open, and they saw — 



136 


XIII 


“ Harness the 


Reindeer 1 


yy 
































































<• ' 































































































CHAPTER XIII 

“ Harness the Reindeer /” 



UT to know what they saw, we must first go 
back to Santa Claus’s house, where we left 
Bab sleeping in front of the big fire. She was 
dreaming of the Sand Man and the owls and 
the Wooden Cow and the Idle Princess all at 
once, when she was awakened by hearing her 
name called. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, and Wiggles 
barked. 

Santa Claus was standing near them talking to a new- 
comer, and who should that new-comer be but Bizzybuzz ! 

“ Mother Goose thought it was about time for me to look 
you up,” he explained, after Bab had greeted him enthusi- 
astically. “ Santa Claus tells me that you have been doing very 
well. — Aha ! ” he added, seeming pleased. “ So you have the 
dog at last ? What did I tell you ? But let me hear more 

139 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

about this rescue of the Wooden Cow. What did you say 
the Brownies wanted to do with the pieces ?” 

“ They wanted — ” began Bab ; but Santa Claus interrupted 

her. 

“ My dear child/’ he said, “ though they were indeed sent 
by the Wicked King as they told you, they were sent chiefly 
for the purpose of trying to stop you in your journey and pre- 
venting you from reaching me ! They tried their best to get 
you to help them chop up my cow ; and if you had, you 
would have been in the power of the Wicked King forever 
and ever ! The reason that they wanted a horn of the magic 
cow was that with one of them or even a piece of one you 
can turn people into wood at a moment’s notice ! And the 
Wicked King and Grump are always on the lookout for spells, 
— particularly those which can be put to a bad use in bad 
hands.” 

Bab was much shocked by all this ; but Bizzybuzz nodded 
his head, and said : “ Of course ; that ’s simple enough. 
Everyone knows their methods. It ’s lucky for you, Bab, that 
you did not listen to their coaxing ! ” 

Bab thought so, too, and she felt more ashamed than ever 
when she remembered that she had even hesitated for a moment. 

“Well,” said Santa Claus, “ now that the little girl has 
done her duty so well and served me so usefully, how is she 
to get home ? ” 

“Do you want to go directly back to Mother Goose?” 
asked Bizzybuzz, turning to her. She hesitated. 

140 


“HARNESS THE REINDEER!” 


“ I — I’d like to help Dick first,” she answered. “ He 
has the hardest task of us all ; and then, you see, I should 
most awfully love to help set poor Mother Goose’s son 
free ! ” 

“ Good ! ” cried Santa Claus, heartily. “ Well thought 
of! You shall goto your brother this very night, and” — 
he paused and smiled slyly — “ I know how you will go ! ” 

“ How ? ” asked Bab. 

“Never you mind!” chuckled the old gentleman, myste- 
riously. “You’ll like it, I promise you! ” 

“ But what help can she be to her brother ?” asked Bizzy- 
buzz. “ Nothing but the very strongest magic could be of 
any use to him in the Red City.” 

“Well,” said Santa Claus, “why shouldn’t she have a 
bit of magic about her, just in case she needed it? And 
as a matter of fact,” he added, “ it ’s odd, you know, that she 
did n’t collect any magic coming through the Wonderful 
Wood.” 

“ Perhaps she did,” suggested Bizzybuzz. “ Did you 
drink from any spring, Bab?” 

“Or pick a flower or a leaf?” asked Santa Claus. 

She shook her head. 

“I sat down on a bank,” she said. “And — and yes! I 
picked daisies in the Idle Princess’s garden.” 

“ But you did n’t keep them ? ” 

“Oh, no! I didn’t keep anything. Oh, wait! Yes! I 
have some sand ! ” And she laughed. 

141 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Sand ! ” repeated Santa Claus. 

“Yes,” declared Bab, putting her hand in her pocket and 
drawing it out. “ Look ! Sand from the Sand Man’s country, 

— the World of Sand ! ” 

“ Just the thing ! ” cried Santa Claus and Bizzybuzz 
together. 

“Take care of that sand, Bab,” said the former. “With 
even a grain of that you could send anyone fast asleep if you 
just threw the grain at him.” 

“ Lovely ! ” Bab clapped her hands after carefully re- 
turning the sand to her pocket. “ Perhaps — who knows ? 

— I can send the Wicked King to sleep for a hundred 
years.” 

“ Or Grump,” said Santa Claus. “ It really would be nice 
if Grump could be sent to sleep for a hundred years ! ” 

“Now, do you know,” said Bizzybuzz, thoughtfully, “/ 
think that sleep would be far too good for Grump.” 

“ Let *s hurry ! ” begged Bab, who was anxious to be on 
the road that led to the Red City. 

“ Slowly, slowly ! ” said Santa Claus. “ First, my dear, 
would you not like to see my house ? ” 

“ Ye-es,” said Bab, doubtfully. “Only — please excuse 
me, dear Santa Claus, but — ” 

“ My workshop,” went on Santa Claus, “ my Fairy 
Kitchen, my toy henyard, my reindeer — ” 

“ Oh, have you any really reindeer ? ” asked Bab, forget- 
ting Dick for a moment. “ I Ve heard of them, you know, 

142 


“HARNESS THE REINDEER!” 

but I never knew that you really truly had them. What are 
they like?” 

“ What ! Did you never read the stories of my friend 
Hans Christian Andersen?” asked Santa Claus. 

“ No,” said Bab, shamefacedly. “ We had them for a 
Christmas present one year, but we never read them. We — 
we thought make-believe things were silly then ! ” 

“ Ah ! very sad indeed ! ” declared Santa Claus, shaking 
his head. “ But, my dear child, reindeer are not make-believe 
things ; though, to be sure, mine are not quite like ordinary 
animals. I ’m surprised, by the bye, that you did not see 
them when you were in the barn.” 

“Were they there ? ” cried Bab, excitedly. “No, I did 
not see them. It was very dark, and you see I was so much 
interested in the Wooden Cow.” 

“ I ’ll take you down to the barn again,” said Santa Claus, 
“ and show them to you.” 

Bab felt as though she could not bear to delay another 
moment, kind as Santa Claus had been to her, and delightful 
as it was in his little house. But she stifled her impatience, 
and said “ Thank you ” as politely as she knew how. 

But just at that moment there was a slight sound at the 
window, — the lightest tap-tapping, such as you hear when 
a June-bug bumps and buzzes against the pane in mid- 
summer. 

Santa Claus opened the window, and in flew a big green 
Dragon-Fly. 


143 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ Is Bizzybuzz here ? ” he asked in a high humming voice. 

“ Here I am,” said Bizzybuzz. “ How are you, Green- 
Wings ? ” 

“ Oh, it ’s you ! ” said the Dragon-Fly. Evidently they 
were old friends. “ Well, I ’ve hunted you through the Wind 
Channels, and the Storm Road of Clouds, and the Tree-Top 
Pathway, and every other route I could think of. I happened 
to meet Klang and Tinkle just now on their way to the Fairy 
Court. They told me they had seen you come in this 
direction.” 

“ Well, hurry up ! ” said Bizzybuzz, impatiently. “ What 
do you want me for ? ” 

“ There ’s a mortal boy in the Red City who asked my 
help.” 

“ What! ” cried the three listeners, all together. 

“ A small boy, as boys go,” pursued Green-Wings. 
“ He told me to bring you word concerning him.” 

“Well, well,” said Bizzybuzz, “go on ! ” 

“ He ’s been caught by the men-at-arms of the Wicked 
King,” said the Dragon-Fly. “ Things looked rather badly 
for him when I left.” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” exclaimed Bab, and began to cry. “ Poor, 
poor Dicky ! ” 

“ I must not lose a minute ! ” cried Bizzybuzz. “ I ’ll go 
to him at once; and — wait! Perhaps Meg has done her 
task by this time. If so, she has the spell Dick needs. I ’ll 
stop at the Fairy Court on my way. Thanks, Green-Wings, 

144 


“HARNESS THE REINDEER!” 


thanks ! Good-bye, good-bye! ” And he darted, still buzzing 
busily, out of the window. 

“ Oh, Bizzybuzz ! Dear Bizzybuzz ! ” called Bab. “ Please 
take me with you ! ” 

“ You — can — follow — me — if — you — like — ” His 
voice floated back to her. “Santa Claus will show you the 
way — ” And he was quite gone forthwith. 

The Dragon-Fly polished off his wings in front of the 
fire, much to the excitement of Wiggles. Then he flew 
away, his gauzy person flashing through the open window like 
that of a sprite. 

“Oh, how can I follow Bizzybuzz?” sobbed Bab. “And 
I did so want to help Dicky ! That dreadful king will surely 
behead him ! ” 

“ Now listen to me ! ” said Santa Claus. “ I have a plan 
which I think you ’ll like. Why should not you go straight 
to the Red City yourself and help your brother in your 
own way, without paying any further attention to Bizzybuzz ? 
He’s only a Goblin Messenger, after all. You have the Sleep- 
Sand, and I am going to give you the means of making an 
escape at any time ! What do you say ? ” 

“ Oh, it would be lovely ! ” cried Bab. “ May I start at 
once, please?” 

“Of course. Come with me, and 1 will show you the 
way you are to go.” 

They hurried out, followed by Wiggles ; and Santa Claus 
led the way to the barn. 

IO 


145 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


In all her excitement Bab could not help stopping to 
speak to her friend the Wooden Cow, and the beast seemed 
pleased to see her. 

“ I ’m so glad I have something to remember her by ! ” 
said Bab, showing Santa Claus the scrap of wood which she 
still carried in her pocket. 

Santa Claus started, and then laughed. 

“Do you remember what I told you about her horns ?” 
he said. “Well, never mind! Of course you don’t! But 
that bit of wood is a very powerful weapon, Miss Bab ! And 
don’t you throw it at anyone unless you are in the greatest 
possible danger ! Don’t forget ! ” 

And Bab did not forget. 

“ Good-bye, Wooden Cow ! ” she said, and turned away. 
“ Oh, Santa Claus ! Santa Claus ! what is the way I am to go ? ” 

“This way ! ” said Santa Claus. 

He rolled back another door inside the barn. By the 
light of the lantern he carried, Bab could see some beautiful 
animals standing in stalls such as horses have. But these were 
not horses. They had great, spreading antlers, delicate hoofs, 
and noble heads ; and they looked at Santa Claus, and stamped 
as though in the highest excitement. 

“They are anxious to be off! ” he said, looking at them 
proudly. “ There, my beauties ! Only a moment more ! 
Ah ! they miss the Christmas season, poor beasts ! ” 

“ But — what — why — ” stammered Bab, bewildered. 

“ Come, come ! ” said Santa Claus. “ Help me ! ” 

146 



‘“I DON’T THINK I LIKE YOU,’ SAID THE SEA KOBOLD, 

‘YOU MAY GO’” 



















































4 































* 















































f 







“HARNESS THE REINDEER! 


>5 


“ But,” said Bab, “ to do what ? ” 

Santa Claus looked at her and laughed aloud. 

“To harness the reindeer ! ” he cried. 

At the Court of the Fairies Meg was standing before the 
Queen, saying good-bye. 

“How am I to send the spell back to you after we have 
freed Humpty Dumpty ? ” she said. 

“ Bizzybuzz will bring it. He is an old friend of mine, 
and always welcome at court.” 

Suddenly two musical voices were heard singing. 

“Hush, Klang and Tinkle!” said the Queen. “I wish 
to bid the little mortal girl good-bye in peace ! ” 

“ But,” said the two Goblins, “ we want to tell her that 
we met her sister a short time ago, and that she seemed in 
excellent health and admired our music greatly.” 

“ How nice ! ” cried Meg. “ I ’m so glad you met Bab ! ” 

But the Queen interrupted. 

“You must not talk to these two idle-headed Goblins,” 
she said severely. “Think of poor Humpty Dumpty, and 
hurry ! If Klang and Tinkle did meet your sister, I am 
certain that they delayed her all they could ! ” 

The two hung their heads, but suddenly raised them again. 

“ But” they explained, “ we want to make up for all 
that by suggesting that it is not safe for the mortal girl to 
travel back alone with the spell through the Wonderful 
Wood.” 


147 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

“ I suppose that you both want to go with her ?” said the 
Queen. 

“ Surely, your Majesty ! ” said the two, cheerfully. 

“ So that you may have some one to admire you and listen 
to your singing ! ” said the Queen, scornfully. “ No, indeed, 
you shall not go with her ; but I agree with you about the 
dangers of her going alone. Let me think — ” 

Just at that moment a soft, whirring noise was heard 
overhead. 

“ What is that?” exclaimed the Fairy Queen. 

Meg clapped her hands joyfully. 

“ It ’s Bizzybuzz ! ” she cried. “ Perhaps he has brought 
some news ! ” 

Bizzybuzz alighted in front of the Queen, and bowed 
low. 

“ Your Majesty’s humble servant ! ” he said. 

“What news, what news, Bizzybuzz?” cried Meg. “I 
must know first of all if you have any news ! ” 

With an excited flutter of his gauzy wings he answered : 
“ News indeed ! Bab has finished her task ! ” 

“ And I mine ! ” said Meg, proudly. 

“ Really ? Now, that is better still ! ” said good little 
Bizzybuzz, with the greatest possible satisfaction. “ Well, 
then, we are all ready to go to Dick’s assistance ; and he 
needs us ! I have Moon Eyes waiting in the wood for you, 
and Bab will follow to the Red City, under the directions of 
Santa Claus, who has taken a great fancy to her! ” 

148 


“HARNESS THE REINDEER!” 


Meg said good-bye to the Fairy Queen in a flutter of 
excitement, and, clasping her precious blue scroll very tightly, 
she hurried away after Bizzybuzz ; and the Fairies called, 
“ Good-fortune ! ” after them as they went. 

In the woods they found Moon Eyes waiting with owl- 
like patience. As Meg mounted, with a caress for the wise 
and silent bird, she felt a thrill of excitement, a joy in 
adventure which she had never felt before. 

“ Now, then,” cried Bizzybuzz, “ to rescue Dick and 
Humpty Dumpty from the clutches of the Wicked King ! ” 



149 







XIV 

Danger ! 














. 

















































CHAPTER XIV 


Danger ! 



”HEN the door of the Princess's room 
opened, and both she and Dick turned 
toward it, what do you suppose they 
saw ? 

They saw a little girl in a brown 
dress with black spots on it, — a little girl who had dark eyes 
and hair, and was followed by a small, excited fox-terrier. 
For they saw none other than Bab herself! 

She ran into the room, and hugged her brother, crying, 
“ Oh, Dicky, Dicky, dear ! How glad I am to see you 
again !” 

Wiggles jumped about and yelped with joy, and altogether 
you might have supposed that they had all been separated for 

153 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


years, instead of only — But dear me, I forgot ! We don't 
know how long it had been, after all ! For, of course, in Make 
Believe Land they count very differently from the way 
we do. 

Naturally, both Dick and Bab forgot all about the Prin- 
cess, until she said quite crossly, “ Well, I do think you 
might introduce her to me!” 

Dick jumped. 

“ Oh, dear ! I forgot ! ” he exclaimed. “ Princess, this is 
my sister Bab.” 

“ Bab ! ” repeated the Princess. “ What a funny name ! ” 

“It’s really Barbara,” explained Bab. “But I think 
that ’s really worse, is n’t it? And, anyway, Bab ’s shorter.” 

“ Oh, yes, certainly. And it ’s a very nice name,” said 
the Princess, politely. “ A very nice name, I ’m sure ! Well, 
little Bab, or Barbara, or whatever your name is, what are 
you doing here ? ” 

“ If you please, Princess,” said Bab, timidly. “ I am here 
to help Dicky save Humpty Dumpty.” 

“And himself! ” added the Princess, mischievously. “You 
know he needs saving too, just now.” 

“ And the Princess,” put in Dick. 

“ And poor dear Mudge,” finished the Princess. 

“ Dear me ! ” exclaimed Bab. “ Have you all got to be 
rescued ? ” 

“Every single one!” declared the Princess. “Your 
brother — what did he say his name was ? — Duck ? — oh, no 

154 


DANGER! 


— Dick! — Dick and I were just talking the matter over 
when you came in. We aren’t very certain how to go 
about it.” 

“ Oh, but I am ! ” said Bab, confidently. 

“ Indeed ! ” exclaimed the Princess, in surprise. 

“ Yes ! ” said Bab, importantly. “ How do you suppose I 
got in here ? ” 

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” answered the Princess, 
sincerely. “ It ’s almost as hard to get in here as to get out, 

— not quite, though!” she added, thoughtfully. 

“Well, first,” said Bab, “I’ll tell you about my journey 
to Santa Claus. That will explain a little.” And she told 
them all about her trip through the Wonderful Wood, and 
about the Sand Man, and the Brownies, and the Wooden Cow, 
and the arrival of the Dragon-Fly. 

“ But,” cried Dick, at this point, “I — I only sent the 
message a minute ago ! ” 

Then he paused a minute, bewildered. Was it only a 
minute ago, after all ? He did not seem to be able to count 
the time. 

“ My dear children,” said the Princess, “ you must never 
try to count time in Make Believe Land. Time either does not 
exist here, or else there is so much of it that you simply can’t 
measure it. I don’t know which it is, but anyway it is silly 
to try to guess how long anything takes here.” 

“ Well,” said Bab, who did n’t care anything about time 
herself, “ I got into Santa Claus’s sleigh, and the reindeer 

i55 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


brought me safely to the Red City. I left them in the wood, 
and came here as fast as I could go. A little boy showed me 
the way.” 

“ Mudge ! ” said Dick. “ But how did you get into the 
tower ? ” 

Bab chuckled. 

“ I threw some sand at the men who tried to stop me,” 
she said, “ and they — every — single — one — went — fast — 
asleep ! ” 

The Princess opened her eyes and mouth in amazement. 

“ The guards outside this room, too ? ” she asked with a 
gasp. 

Bab nodded triumphantly. “ I had just enough Sleep- 
Sand left for them ! ” she said. 

“ Oh ! ” cried the Princess, with another little gasp. 
“ Then I ’m free ! ” 

And she jumped up, and ran to the door, stumbling over 
her flowing, gold-embroidered robes as she ran, and over- 
turning a box of jewels in her haste. She opened the door, 
and there, sure enough, were all the guards sound asleep on 
the floor outside. 

“ Oh, oh, oh ! ” cried the Princess, and hugged Bab in 
her excitement. “You blessed little thing! You darling! 
You — you’ve set me free!” 

And then she hugged Dick too, and then all three of 
them laughed and talked all at once, and Wiggles rushed 
around them in a circle and howled his sympathy. 

15b 


DANGER! 

“ Now,” said the Princess, picking up her skirts, “ let ’s 
run ! ” 

And they all scurried away out of the Palace as fast as 
mice. They passed the men-at-arms that Bab had met 
below, who were all as sound asleep as possible, just 
where they had happened to be when Bab threw the sand 
at them, — all, that is, except one man. He was only half 
asleep, and was yawning and stretching and trying hard to 
wake up. 

“I’m afraid he did not get a whole grain!” said Bab, 
looking at him anxiously. “ Well, never mind. I guess he 
won’t wake quite up until we are safe away, anyway. Come, 
come ! Hurry up ! ” 

And they ran on again. But the drowsy man-at-arms 
did wake quite up just at that very moment. And, yawning 
and shivering with sleep, he stumbled into the throne-room 
of the Palace, calling out, “Thief! Thief! A thief has 
stolen away the Princess! Help! Help!” 

Now the Palace of the Wicked King was simply full of 
people of all sorts. There were plenty of men-at-arms, and 
retainers, and cooks, and gentlemen-in-waiting, and courtiers, 
and scullions, and pages, and maids, and court-ladies, and 
when the sleepy soldier ’cried “Thief!” and “Help!” they 
all came running out of their rooms all over the Palace and 
hurried down stairs. And there was the wildest excitement 
possible in the throne-room of the Wicked King. 

And then the door of the royal apartments opened, and 
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HUMPTY DUMPTY 


the Wicked King himself appeared. And he said, in a deep 
angry voice, “ Why is there so much noise?” 

And everyone trembled and bowed low before him. For 
of course they were all dreadfully afraid of him ! 

For a minute or two no one dared to speak, and the King 
stood there in his crimson robes, with his gold crown on his 
wicked head, and glared at everybody. 

“ Well ?” he thundered suddenly. And the sleepy soldier 
ventured to speak at last. 

“ Lord — Master — ” he quavered, “ two strangers have 
carried off the Princess ! ” 

“What!” roared the Wicked King. “And what were 
you doing, all of you, while they were carrying her off?” 

“Your Majesty,” said the poor man-at-arms, “we — we 
were asleep ! ” 

And then he took to his heels and ran away as hard and 
fast and far as he could. 

The Wicked King was so disturbed by the fact of Star’s 
disappearance that he did not take the time and trouble to 
have the man caught and beheaded, as he certainly would have 
done at any other time. 

“Where is Grump?” he demanded, looking quite pale 
with rage and fear. 

“ He has not yet appeared,” said one of the courtiers. 
“ He has not been here to-day at all, O most augustly Wicked 
King ! ” 

“ Strange ! ” muttered the Wicked King. “ Surely nothing 
158 


DANGER! 


can have gone wrong ? He was to have brought me the 
spell from the Fairy Queen before this. It should certainly 
be in the city by now.” 

And as a matter of fact, it was in the city then, but it 
had not been brought by Grump! For, as we know, Grump 
had been robbed of all his wicked power by Meg in his under- 
ground cave, and instead of being able to fly on a cloud to his 
master with his woes he had to travel slowly and painfully 
through the wood, and over the Sea of Glass like any other 
every-day sort of person. 

At this moment who should come swarming in but the 
Mischief Brownies, — the very same bad little sprites whom 
Bab had outwitted in Santa Claus’s barn. They hurried into 
the Wicked King’s Palace, and wailed out their story, — how 
they had stopped the mortal girl, as had been commanded, and 
how she had followed them and chased them out of the barn 
with a frightful, roaring monster, just as they had cut off one 
of the Wooden Cow’s magic horns. 

The Wicked King listened to all that they had to say, in 
a white rage. Were all his plans to go wrong? The situa- 
tion was infuriating ! His servants outwitted by a simple, 
ordinary, stupid, little mortal girl ; his daughter stolen ! 
With an awful growl of anger he waved his hand. 

“ Follow the thieves !” he cried. “Men-at-arms! Courtiers! 
Servants! Gentlemen-in-waiting ! Catch them at once ! Half 
my kingdom for the man who brings me the heads of the 
scoundrels and returns to me my daughter ! ” 

159 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


Before a single breath could be drawn, a whole army of his 
subjects had rushed away after the escaping three. And then 
who do you suppose came stumbling into the throne-room, 
making a great outcry and waving his arms wildly? None 
other than Grump ! 

“ Master ! — Your Majesty!” he panted. “ She tipped 
over the pot of magic, and she escaped ! She has gone to- 
Fairyland ! What shall we do ? What shall we do?” 

The Wicked King was at the end of his patience. 

“ I have not lost all of my magic yet,” he thundered^ 
“You are a pretty sort of a servant! You’re an idiot! A 
useless, slow, dull idiot! You’re a snail /” 

Then an idea struck him. 

“ Be a snail ! ” he commanded. 

And Grump shrivelled up and turned into a snail, and 
crawled away into a crack in the Palace wall. And that was 
the end of him ! 

Then a messenger came flying to the Wicked King, and 
cried : “ Oh, Master ! They have run the thieves into a 
corner under the city wall, and soon they will be caught and 
beheaded ! ” 

“I should like the pleasure of doing it myself!” said the 
Wicked King, grimly. “ Have them left alive until I get 
there ! ” 

And he stalked out of the Palace, and followed the mes- 
senger through the streets of the Red City. 

Finally he came upon a great crowd of his subjects, and 
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DANGER! 

beyond them, standing against the wall, were Bab and Dick 
and the Princess, frightened almost to death ! 

“ Ah ! ” said the Wicked King, with a cruel smile. “ Now 
I have you, you impudent creatures! You upstarts from the 
Real World! Now I will cut off your heads with my own 
hands ! ” 

And he drew his sword. 



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XV 

By the City IV all 






























































CHAPTER XV 


By the City W all 



*HE three escaping friends did not know what 
to do. Bab had used up all her sand, and 
there seemed no way left to overcome their 
enemies. 

Meanwhile the crowd in front of them were 
snarling threats and mocking words. 

“ I will be the one to kill them ! ” cried one. 

“ No, — I ! ” exclaimed another. 

“ I — I — I ! ” shouted everybody at once. 

“ Hush ! ” said someone, sharply. “ The King himself is 


coming 


i6 5 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


And everyone became silent. They were all deeply disap- 
pointed, for they knew that now the Wicked King would 
insist on killing the children himself, and none of them would 
stand a chance of getting that promised half of his kingdom. 

Suddenly an idea came to Bab. 

“ Dick,” she whispered, “ we must try to get the Wicked 
King to put us in prison or something like that ! ” 

“ Why ? ” asked Dick, gloomily. “ I think that it would 
be much nicer to be killed at once and get it over ! ” 

“ Oh, but, Dick ! ” Bab breathed eagerly into his ear. 
“ Don’t you remember the tiny piece of wood that I told you 
about ? The piece of magic wood from the Wooden Cow’s 
horn ? Well, I have it still ! and Santa Claus said that it was 
a very powerful weapon to have. And if we can only see the 
Wicked King alone I’ll throw it at him, and I ’m sure from 
what Santa Claus said that it will do something awful to 
him ! ” 

“ Why not throw it at him now ?” suggested Dick. “ Just 
to see what it will do ! ” 

“Because — don’t you see? — then we’d have all these 
other dreadful people to fight, and we ’ve nothing at all left 
after this splinter of wood goes ! No, we must try to see the 
Wicked King all by himself! ” 

“ I see ! ” exclaimed Dick. And at that moment the 
Wicked King strode up to them, with his long, bright, sharp 
sword drawn, and a fiendish smile on his wicked old face. 

“ How nice of you,” said the Wicked King, “ to stand 
1 66 


BY THE CITY WALL 

against a wall ! It is ever so much easier to kill a person 
when he stands against a wall ! " 

“ Oh, your Majesty ! " cried Dick. “ Don't kill us until 
you have heard our story ! " 

He was talking at random, of course, to gain time, but he 
succeeded in making the Wicked King stop short for a mo- 
ment to listen. 

“ Oh, well,” said the Wicked King. “ I would not mind 
hearing your story, as a matter of fact, — if it happens to be 
an interesting one." 

For this was the one weakness of the Wicked King : he 
loved stories, — almost as much, indeed, as did a certain great 
ruler in the East, of whom you will read one of these days in 
one of the most splendid wonder-books ever written by any 
man. 

“ Is it an interesting one ? " he demanded. 

“ Oh, yes!" said Dick, seeing his advantage. “It's a 
splendid story ! " 

“ Of course you understand," said the King, “ that you 
will both be beheaded just as soon as you are finished ? I 
should not like to encourage any false hopes." 

“ Oh, we quite understand ! " said Dick, looking hard at 
the drawn sword in the King’s hand. In his own mind he 
decided firmly that in any case he would not finish the story 
for a very long time ! 

“ I should really like to hear," the Wicked King went on, 
« how you stole my daughter and sent my soldiers to sleep, and 

1 67 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

how you chased my Brownies away from their work, and did 
all the other extraordinary and impertinent things which you 
have done. You are dangerous creatures, but you are unusual ; 
and I think you are worth keeping alive for an hour or so, — 
as long as I have an army to watch you while you talk ! ” 

Then he sat down on a large rock and folded his arms. 

“ Begin ! ” he commanded. 

Dick was at his wits’ end. Of course he had expected 
that the Wicked King would have them sent to prison ; in- 
stead he was expected to tell his tale surrounded by hundreds 
of people. How in the world was Bab to make use of her 
magic splint of wood under such conditions as these ? 

The Princess, who had been silent all this time, came very 
unexpectedly to the rescue. 

“ Revered parent,” she said, — for that was what the 
Wicked King liked her to call him, — “I beg you to first 
take me back to my tower, from which these creatures have 
dragged me against my will ! ” 

The Wicked King looked at her sharply. He was not at 
all sure that she had been dragged away ! However, she 
looked as innocent as possible, and he called two men-at-arms 
to him. 

“ Escort the Princess back to her tower ! ” he commanded. 
“ Now, Creatures, tell your story ! ” 

But just then, when everything seemed most hopeless, a 
big bird was seen flying toward them, quite high up in the 
air ; and the next moment Bizzybuzz’s head appeared over 

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BY THE CITY WALL 


the wall, and he whispered excitedly : “ Meg is coming 
with the spell ! Hold out a minute longer ! ” 

All this time Humpty Dumpty had not said a word. In 
fact, he could not see even what was going on, because his 
back was turned to the others. But at the word “spell” 
he suddenly lifted up his voice, and shouted wildly : “ The 
spell ! The spell ! Now I shall be free ! Oh, Princess Star, 
Princess Star! Do you hear? I shall be free ! ” 

“ I hear, I hear, dear Humpty ! ” cried Princess Star. 
“ And I shall be free too ; for I am sure that a really good 
spell can rescue us both ! ” 

“ Undutiful daughter ! ” shouted the Wicked King, waving 
his sword. “ How dare you talk like that with an — an egg ? ” 
He spoke with contempt as well as rage. 

“He — is — not — an — egg ! ” sobbed the Princess, hid- 
ing her face in her satin sleeve and spoiling the embroidery 
with her tears. “ He ’s my — own — poor — angel — 
Humpty Dumpty! And I’ll talk to — him — just exactly 
— as much — as — much — as — I ch-choose ! ” 

The big bird had been drawing nearer and nearer all this 
time, and now swooped down to the top of the wall. It alighted 
close to Humpty Dumpty. Dick and Bab could see that it 
was Moon-eyes, the Owl, and that he bore upon his back their 
sister Meg ! 

As they watched, she waved a bright blue paper, and cried : 
“ Dick ! Bab ! I ’m here ! Are you both quite safe ? ” 

With his sword upraised, the Wicked King rushed forward 
169 


HUMPTY DUM PTY 


upon the two children. Wiggles barked and snapped at his 
legs, all the men-at-arms shouted, and the Princess screamed 
loudly. 

“Now!” cried one of the men. “Watch their heads 
drop off! ” 

But at that moment Bab threw the scrap of wood that she 
had straight in the Wicked King’s face ! And he stopped 
stock-still, his hand still up in the air. The sword dropped to 
the earth. Everyone cried out, “What has happened?” 

The Wicked King’s face got queerer and queerer, stiffer 
and stiffer ; his eyes stared, his wicked smile was frozen on his 
lips. . . . The Wicked King was turned to wood ! 

“ Run, run ! ” cried Dick, seeing that now they had but 
one chance. “ Follow Meg with the spell ! ” he shouted, and 
he and Bab and the Princess ran like the wind along the city 
wall. 

Just then Mudge came flying down the city street. 

“ Oh, please,” he called at the top of his lungs, “ don’t for- 
get that you are going to save me too ! ” 

Meg, riding furiously upon Moon-Eyes, had reached the 
gate. The men-at-arms and courtiers and gentlemen-in- 
waiting, and all the other citizens of the Red City, had started 
in pursuit, and were gaining on them every moment. 

“ Come with us, Mudge ! ” shouted Dick ; and Mudge 
brought up the rear of the flying procession. 

Behind them on the wall Humpty Dumpty was shrieking, 
“ You are n’t all going off without rescuing me, after all ! ” 

170 


BY THE CITY WALL 

“ The gate ! ” cried Bizzybuzz to Dick. “ Meg’s spell will 
open it ! ” 

As they all rushed toward the big iron gate, Meg hastily 
unrolled the scroll of sky-blue paper, and read out at the top 
of her voice, and so fast that no one could understand a word, 
the lines of the Fairy Queen’s spell. And when she came to 
the words 

u Shot bolt, shut gate, 

Yield up your contents straight,” 

there was a queer, clicking, clattering, creaking sound. 

The great gate of the Red City swung slowly open ! 

The fugitives dashed out, and closed it behind them with a 
crash, and stood there on the safe side, panting and gasping, as 
their pursuers came shouting up to the gate on the inside. It 
must have been a very strong gate, for nearly all the inhabitants 
of the Red City threw themselves against it and shook it, but it 
would not give a hair’s breadth. They all howled with fury, 
but the children were safe. 

Then suddenly they all turned and dashed back the way 
they had come. 

“ Look out for Humpty Dumpty ! ” shouted Dick 
“They’ll try to do something to harm him if we don’t take 
care ! ” 

“ Oh, my poor angel ! ” wailed the Princess. “ What 
shall we do ! ” 

“ Pile onto Moon-Eyes ! ” cried Dick to Bab and Mudge. 

The three children sprang onto the owl, and the Princess 
171 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


and Wiggles hurried along the ground. Bizzybuzz darted 
ahead, his wings humming like little electric fans. 

“ Here is the spell ! ” cried Meg, giving Dick the blue 
paper. “You only have to read it over him, and you must 
strike him with something hard and sharp at the same time ! ” 

Dick seized the paper, and pulled his jack-knife out of his 
pocket. Then he stood up on Moon-Eyes’ back, so that he 
could be ready to jump the moment they were anywhere near 
the wall and Humpty Dumpty. 

When they reached the poor Egg, he was almost cracked 
with terror. His agonized expression had made big creases 
in the egg-shell, and he was squeaking, “ Help ! help ! help ! ” 
in a high faint voice. 

The men were just climbing up the wall on the inside, 
so really there was some excuse for his fear. 

“ Quick ! ” cried Bab and Meg, speaking both at once. 
And Dick took a flying leap from the back of the owl to the 
top of the city wall. 

“ Don’t forget to break the shell ! ” cried Meg. He held 
up his knife, to show her that he was prepared. The head 
of one of the men-at-arms appeared over the edge of the wall. 
H is hand was outstretched. 

Dick jabbed the huge egg-shell with his jack-knife, and 
began to read the spell so rapidly that it was a wonder that 
it could work at all ! 

But it did ! The egg toppled, cracked, and fell crashing 
to the earth. 


172 


BY THE CITY WALL 


“Hurry down yourself ! ” cried Bab, in terror. “That 
man will kill you ! ” 

The man-at-arms had drawn a dagger and was trying to 
reach Dick. 

“ Oh, I don’t think he will kill me ! ” laughed Dick, and 
slipped over the edge of the wall into the mass of delicate 
vine-tendrils where the Fairy Flowers were blowing. 

“ Help me ! ” he cried, and came down so quickly that 
there could be no question about its being magic ! He reached 
the earth just in time to see a slender young man in doublet 
and hose rise from the heap of egg-shells, and rush with out- 
stretched hands to meet the Princess ! 

It was Prince Humpty Dumpty, free at last ! 



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XVI 


Behind the Reindeer 






















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CHAPTER XVI 

Behind the Reindeer 



Y this time Bab and Meg had sprung to the 
earth, and they all joined in a cheer of joy. 

“ Good-bye to you ! ” cried Mudge. “ I ’m 
going back to my father, the Sea Kobold. He 
has been expecting me for hundreds of years, 
and he will get me some new scales. Thank 
you very much for helping me to get away. Good-bye ! 
Good-bye ! ” And he was off. 

The Sea of Glass was close at hand, and Dick imagined that 
he could see the Sea Kobold’s anxious head sticking up through 
the hole in the glass, and watching what was happening on 
shore. 

“There ’s no time to be lost even now,” declared Bizzybuzz. 
“Hurry, all of you! ” 

Several of the men-at-arms had reached the top of the wall, 
and the children could hear one of them calling for the big 
12 1 77 


HUM PTY DUM PT Y 


key that opened the gate, and horses on which to hunt down 
the escaping ones. 

“ Hurry ! ” said Bizzybuzz, even more anxiously. And they 
all ran as fast as they could in the direction of the wood. 

Bizzybuzz flew on ahead, calling to them to hurry ; next 
came Humpty Dumpty and the Princess, — she holding up her 
long train and not caring at all that her crown was on the side 
of her pretty head, — and then Bab, and Meg, and Dick, and 
Wiggles ! 

There, at the edge of the wood, was Santa Claus’s sleigh, 
with his splendid reindeer, waiting impatiently to be off. 

As they all climbed into the big sleigh, Dick looked back 
at the Red City. 

“ The gate is open ! ” he exclaimed. “ And they have 
gotten horses too ! They are going to try to catch us ! ” 

“ Never mind ! ” laughed Bizzybuzz, overhead, as the rein- 
deer plunged forward eagerly, and the sleigh rocked with the 
mad motion, — “Never mind! They’ll have a pretty time 
— horses or no horses — trying to catch up with Santa Claus’s 
fastest team !” 

And then began the craziest, wildest, swiftest drive that any- 
one ever saw or dreamed of. The horses of the people of the 
Red City were the fastest in the world, but they were not so 
fast as the reindeer, and they never quite overtook them. 
But sometimes they seemed to be drawing very close, and then 
the Princess would scream, and Wiggles would bark, and the 
reindeer would toss their antlers and go just a little bit faster. 

178 


BEHIND THE REINDEER 

And the racing horses behind, their heads strained forward and 
their hoofs hardly seeming to touch the ground, would drop 
back a foot or two. Their riders waved their arms and shouted, 
and once in a while the occupants of the sleigh could hear 
threats as to what would happen to them all when they were 
caught. 

On they went, — on, and on, and on ! And neither the 
horses nor the reindeer seemed to be even tired. The rein- 
deer, indeed, seemed to enjoy the race, and their small hoofs 
actually danced over the earth. 

Suddenly they passed a barefooted girl in a green dress, 
who laughed and waved to them. 

“The Idle Princess !” cried Bab. 

“ Dreams-Come-True ! ” exclaimed Meg. 

“ My Fairy of Fancy ! ” shouted Dick. 

“ Hush ! ” said Bizzybuzz. “You don’t know who she 
is, — you foolish little persons! But whoever she is, she is 
going to help us now, or I am very much mistaken.” 

They all stood up in the sleigh to look, and saw a very 
wonderful and pretty sight. The girl in the green gown was 
fastening chains of flowers across the wood-path, — back and 
forth, back and forth, so that the whole way was simply barred 
and blocked with roses, and lilies, and daisies, and bluebells, 
and hyacinths, and sweet peas, and every other delicious blos- 
som that you can think of. 

Now along came the people of the Red City, and the girl 
in the green dress slipped away into the forest ; but she prob- 

179 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 

ably peeked a little from behind some tree, and saw what hap- 
pened afterward. The horses plunged at full speed into the 
maze of flowers that she had prepared for them, and however 
they might leap and push and struggle and trample, they 
could not get through the flower-chains. You see, making 
chains of flowers happened to be the green-gowned girl’s pet 
hobby, and no one in the world could ever break the chains 
she made. 

But just two riders did manage to force their horses through, 
and Dick, looking back, — of course that check had given them 
a splendid advantage, — saw two steeds galloping wildly after 
them. 

“ She has kept back all but two ! ” he said. “ Dear Fairy 
of Fancy ! ” 

“ But what are we to do with these?” asked Star, who was 
always worrying. 

“ Never fear,” said Bizzybuzz, cheerfully. “These chil- 
dren have too many friends in the Make Believe Land for 
there to be any danger. Someone else will happen along 
before long, and see that those two Red City persons have 
more trouble ! ” 

Now the three children had not realised before that they 
had made many friends in Make Believe Land, and the 
thought surprised and pleased them more than they would 
have believed possible. There was a little warm glow around 
each of their hearts, and they looked up at little Bizzybuzz 
gratefully. 


180 


BEHIND THE REINDEER 

“Thank you for telling us that, Bizzybuzz,” said Bab, 
shyly. 

“ Telling you ! ” laughed Bizzybuzz. “You will not need 
to be told it pretty soon ! ” 

Once more the Red City horses seemed to be gaining 
upon them. Suddenly two huge owls flew out of the depths 
of the forest and began to flap around the heads of the 
galloping horses. 

“ Who are they ? ” cried Meg, excitedly. 

“Two of your friends,” returned the Goblin. 

“ Is one Moon-Eyes ? ” asked Dick. 

Bizzybuzz nodded. “ And the other,” he said, “ is the 
Tail-less One, the Owl Innkeeper ! ” 

“ Oh, how nice of them both ! ” cried Bab. “They won't 
hurt the horses, will they?” 

“ Oh, dear, no ! ” said Bizzybuzz. “ But they may succeed 
in driving at least one of them back.” 

And indeed that is just what they did. One of the horses 
shied, and reared, and finally wheeled straight about. The 
man fell off, and, though he was not at all hurt, was so angry 
that he almost had a fit. He stood in the centre of the 
path and shook his fist at the trees on each side of him, 
as though he suspected them of having had something to do 
with it. 

The horse, with the owls after it, was running home to 
the Red City as fast as it could possibly go. 

The second rider had not stopped to see whether his 
1 8 1 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


comrade had been killed or not, and was riding after the 
sleigh faster than ever. 

“ I wonder what will happen to him ,'' said Meg. 

“Ah, little Miss Meg ! '' said Bizzybuzz. “You are 
beginning to trust your friends ! '' 

“Yes,” said Meg, with a sigh. “But really I didn't 
think I should ever trust anyone again, after the horrid time 
I had with Grump ! ” 

“ Hollo ! ” exclaimed Bizzybuzz. “ There 's Green-Wings, 
the Dragon-Fly ! ” 

The big insect came humming into the sleigh, and 
perched on the dash-board. 

“ How are you all ? ” he asked. 

“ All right. Have you any news worth hearing ? ” said 
Bizzybuzz. 

“Well, I 've just come from the Palace of the Wicked 
King. You know I like to lunch upon the green flowers 
that grow on that big tree under the Princess's window. I 
was sitting happily on one of the lower branches, when a 
snail came crawling along the limb toward me.'' 

He paused impressively. 

“Well, what of that?'' said Bizzybuzz, impatiently. 
“ There are many snails.'' 

“ Not many like this one. The snail seemed lonely, and 
though I hate all snails, I could not refuse to talk to it when 
it sat itself down beside me. It talked a great deal of nonsense 
at first, — all about its departed glory, and how it hated the 

182 


BEHIND THE REINDEER 

Wicked King, and stuff of that sort. But finally it told me 
who it was, or rather, who it had been before it became a 
snail. It was Grump ! ” 

Of course, this does not surprise you , for you have known 
it all along, but it surprised the children tremendously. 

“ Poor Grump ! " sighed Meg. “ He tried to boil me 
down, and use my soul in a magic essence, but I really think 
that I am sorry to think that he has got to be a snail for the 
rest of his life. ,> 

“ Look ! " cried Bizzybuzz. 

Out between the trees on their left stalked a strange 
animal, — strange, at least, to all of them except Bab and 
the reindeer. 

“ Oh, stop the sleigh ! " cried Bab. “ It 's my dear 
Wooden Cow ! " 

“You can't stop the sleigh," said Dick. “Look at that 
man on horseback who is still following us." 

“ I think that she is right," said Bizzybuzz. “ It is safe 
to stop the sleigh, for this beast has evidently been sent by 
Santa Claus to help us." 

The reindeer seemed to think so too, for they stopped 
short and even wheeled around. The Wooden Cow ap- 
proached them with short, stiff steps. 

“ I have the honour," she remarked, “ to offer you my 
services. I have come all the way from the far north to 
help you." 

“Well, there's no time to lose," said Bizzybuzz, looking 

183 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


at the quickly nearing figures of the man and the horse. “ If 
you can do anything, please do it soon/’ 

The Wooden Cow turned away, and walked, with its own 
wooden dignity, to meet the rider from the Red City. When 
it was quite close to him, it stopped, and stood motionless in 
the middle of the path, and stared straight ahead of it at the 
galloping horseman. 

And a queer thing happened. 

The horse stopped short. The man on its back became 
utterly still. There was a sort of a pause, and then the same 
dreadful change began to come over both horse and man 
which they had seen come over the Wicked King. They 
both turned to wood, and the expressions on the two wooden 
faces — that of the man and the animal alike — were so 
wicked and cruel and horrid that one could not feel at all 
sorry that they had been turned to wood. 

The Wooden Cow returned with slow and solemn steps to 
the sleigh. Her horn was still tied on with Bab’s ribbon, and 
the top of her head was smeared in places with the sticky 
black paint and saw-dust. 

“ I hope that is satisfactory ? ” she said. 

They all thanked her, and Bab leaned out of the sleigh to 
hug her hard. 

“ You dear old thing! ” she said. “How sweet of you to 
turn up just now to help us ! ” 

“Santa Claus sent you, I suppose?” said Bizzybuzz. 

The Wooden Cow looked hurt. 

184 


BEHIND THE REINDEER 


“No one sent me,” she declared. “ I heard of the trouble 
you were in, and I came to see what I could do. I can 
usually turn people into wood when I don’t like them, and I 
was grateful to the little girl who put on my horn and chased 
the Mischief Brownies away. Now that my duty is done, 
I will go back to Santa Claus’s barn.” 

“Oh, thank you, thank you, dear Wooden Cow,” cried 
Bab. “ Give my love to Santa Claus when you get home ! ” 

The Cow disappeared among the trees, and the reindeer 
started forward again. 

Finally Bizzybuzz pointed ahead to where a little clear- 
ing was shining in a soft, sunset light. In it was a small, 
pretty cottage, from the chimney of which a thin trail of 
blue smoke floated up into the sky. In front of it was a gay 
little garden, and when Humpty Dumpty saw it, he almost 
wept. 

“ At last ! ” said Bizzybuzz, smiling. 



185 




XVII 


Mother Goose Once More 







CHAPTER XVII 


Mother Goose Once More 



ND so Bab, Meg, and Dick came back to 
Mother Goose’s cottage at last, and brought 
with them Prince Humpty Dumpty and the 
Princess Star. 

It seemed to our three children, when they 
saw the cottage, that a very, very long time had 
passed since they left it to start upon their various adventures. 

It all seemed very natural and homelike, somehow, coming 
back to the quaint little house, with its bright garden, and its 
latticed windows, and the door with its funny string-latch. 
In spite of their excitement, and all their narrow escapes, and 
everything that they all had been through, a feeling of peace 
came over them, and they felt happy enough to cry when the 
cottage door opened, and Mother Goose herself smiled at them 
from the threshold. 

Of course there was the greatest sort of rejoicing when she 
and Humpty Dumpty met after all the centuries of their sepa- 

189 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


ration, and after they had kissed and hugged and cried over 
each other, she welcomed the Princess, and kissed her too 
very kindly. And finally she turned, with her very sweetest, 
gentlest look, to the three children who were standing to- 
gether, silently looking on. 

“Thank you, dear children/’ she said. “You have served 
me very well, very bravely and very truly, and I am grateful.” 

“ Oh, Mother Goose,” broke out Bab, conscientiously, 
“I’m afraid if you knew — ” 

“ I do know,” said Mother Goose. “ At this moment I 
am reading your eyes, and I can see every single thing that 
has happened to you all while you have been away, — not only 
what you have done, but what you have thought.” 

She looked keenly at them and smiled. And they all hung 
their heads and blushed a little, for they were remembering 
the many times that they had been weak or forgetful or 
cowardly. 

“ But,” she went on, “ knowing everything, dears, I still 
thank you, and praise you, for you have done very well, — 
much, much better than you know. And that,” she added, 
“ is something for you to remember ; we are always a little 
bit better than we think, and so when we are naughty, the 
best thing for us to do is to say to ourselves, * Dear me, I 
am not giving myself a chance ! I am really good ; why am 
I trying so hard to be bad ? ’ ” 

And the children never forgot what she said. You will 
do well to remember it too. 

190 


MOTHER GOOSE ONCE MORE 

“ And now,” went on Mother Goose, with a delightfully 
mysterious smile, “ I have planned a little surprise for you.” 

“ A surprise ! ” they all three repeated, wondering. 

“ Yes. I am sure that you do not want to go home with- 
out seeing again some of the friends that you have made here ; 
and besides, I should like you to know some of my own par- 
ticular friends, — whom you should have met long before, by 
the bye.” 

“ But, Mother Goose, who are they?” asked Bab. 

“ And how are we to meet them ? ” queried Meg. 

“ And where must we go ? ” sighed Dick, who was quite 
content to stay where he was for the present, after all his 
adventures. 

Mother Goose smiled again. She quite beamed upon 
them through her gold-rimmed spectacles. 

“They are all coming here,” she declared. “ I ’m giving 
a party for you, and every one in this part of the world is 
coming to it.” 

“ Oh, what fun ! ” they exclaimed, clapping their hands. 
“ How ^ear of you, Mother Goose ! ” 

“ Who will be here ? ” asked inquisitive Bab. 

“Well,” said Mother Goose, “I confess I am disappointed 
not to have the Piper family, — Jack and Jill, and Contrary 
Mary, and the rest. Some of my best songs have been written 
about them, and I am devoted to them all. But they are away 
just now, on a visit to a very remote part of the country, — 
Toyland, in fact, — and I have not been able to send for them 

191 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


in time to get them back. Then, the Man in the Moon and 
his pretty wife have sent regrets ; they have some party on the 
Milky Way which they simply have to go to, so she says. And 
Hop O’ My Thumb is half a world »away, and is having one 
of his seven-league boots mended, so he is uncertain about 
getting here in time ; but he has promised to make a great 
effort to come at any cost. But even without these especially 
good friends of mine, there will be quite enough to make 
things merry. And I do love a party, even at my age ! ” 

At the same moment Bizzybuzz called from the door that 
the owls were coming. Mother Goose went forward to meet 
them, and the children v *e soon greeting all their old friends, 
— Moon-Eyes and his wife, the Lady Gray-Wing, and the Owl 
Innkeeper, and several other owls whom they recognised as 
having been at the Owls’ In on rhe night of the storm; also 
the big white owl who haa ca i ed the little Witch of Silence 
to the foot of the Ladder of Li that led to the North 
Star. 

Bab asked him when he expectec the Witch home; but 
he merely blinked at her without answer:? u:, and me in- 

hered that he never spoke. 

Moon-Eyes and the Owl Innkeeper gave 
account of how they had chased the horse of the 
man back to the city gates. 

“ It's too bad to frighten the poor horse,” said Meg, “bin 
I suppose that it had to be done.” 

“ Oh, the Red City horses are as bad as the Red City 
192 


MOTHER GOOSE ONCE MORE 

men,” said the Owl Innkeeper, — “ which is saying a great 
deal more than I like to say about man or beast.” 

“ And anyway,” added Moon-Eyes, “ we did n't hurt the 
horse, of course. We just talked to him, and persuaded him 
that he would rather go home than chase you ! ” 

“ Yes! ” laughed Dick. “ I certainly should think he would 
rather go home with you after him as you were ! ” 

Lady Gray-Wing had brought with her the Red Squirrel 
whom they had met at luncheon in her nest. He seemed de- 
lighted to see them, and begged them to postpone their depar- 
ture from Make Believe Land, so that he could give them a real 
woodland party. He said that he had some friends among the 
Frog family, who were truly charming, and he would be so 
glad to introduce them. 

Next came Klang and Tinkle, the two Musical Goblins, 
and Green-Wings, the Dragon-Fly. And there were several 
Fairies from the magical Flower Meadow at the edge of Fairy- 
Land. The Sand Man, too, was there, and the Wooden Cow, 
who explained that all her plans had been changed by the in- 
vitation which had come to her from Mother Goose, and that 
she had put off her return to Santa Claus’s country simply to 
come to the party. 

Most unexpected of all was the arrival of the Sea Kobold and 
Mudge, both dripping sea-water, but smiling amiably upon 
everyone. Mudge had a new set of scales, of which he seemed 
very proud, and the Sea Kobold had discovered that with the 
overthrow of the Wicked King his glass lid had melted away ; 

193 


13 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


Jt 


so the ocean was as good as ever, and there was no longer any 
Sea of Glass. 

Soon after this the strangers began to arrive, and such 
queer, delightful people as they all were ! The children felt 
terribly ashamed of themselves not to know more about their 
histories, for they were evidently famous people, all of them, 
and it did seem dreadful to think that they might know all 
about them if only they had been willing to read a few fairy- 
books now and then ! 

There was one little old woman, with cloudy gray robes 
and a huge broomstick. When they asked, timidly, who she 
was, she answered with haughtiness : “ I am the Old Wo- 

man who Sweeps the Cobwebs from the Sky ! Everyone 
in the world knows me ! ” 

Then there were two lovely ladies, with marvellous hair, 
who came together. One explained that she was the Fair One 
with Golden Locks ; the other said that she was Rapunzel, 
on whose yellow hair a fairy Prince had climbed up to her 
tower window to rescue her. The Three Little Bears trotted 
in together, and Puss in Boots followed soon after ; and the 
four joked together about bowls of porridge, until the three 
mortal children wished they knew what they meant. Wiggles 
made friends with them at once ! 

Snow White and Rose Red strolled in with Jack the Giant- 
Killer, and the other Jack who explained that he was famous 
for house-building. A drowsy-looking lady, leaning upon the 
arm of a very splendid Prince, announced herself as the Sleeping 

IQ4 


MOTHER GOOSE ONCE MORE 

Beauty, and another charming person declared that her name 
was Cinderella, but that she was now happily married, and 
did not sit by the fire and weep any more ! 

“ No, I ’m the one who does that ! ” cried a voice just 
behind her. And a very pretty girl made her appearance. 
They all laughed, and began to sing : 

w Cross Patch, draw the latch ! 

Sit by the fire and spin ! ” 


“ It’s all Mother’s fault,” declared Cross Patch, going to 
Mother Goose and kissing her lovingly. “ No one would 
ever have dreamed of calling me Cross Patch if she had n’t 
made up that silly song just to punish me for a fit of temper ! ” 

Cross Patch turned out to be Mother Goose’s own daughter, 
and a very merry, sweet little person she was. Mother Goose 
herself laughed as she greeted her little girl. 

“ Never mind ! ” she said. “ Her temper is ever so much 
better since ! ” 

Still a third Jack made his appearance just then, carrying 
a piece of a bean-stalk, and he was soon followed by a lovely 
lady and a Prince who announced that they were Beauty and 
the Beast. 

“ He does n’t look a bit like a beast,” cried Meg, watching 
them. Cross Patch laughed. 

“ He was only a beast until Beauty kissed him,” she said. 
“ I really must admit that he was pretty bad up to that time ! ” 

A little girl who wore her hair straight back from her 

195 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


forehead, carried a looking-glass, and was followed by a pack 
of live cards, came next. 

“ Alice ! ” exclaimed Mother Goose. “ I am glad to see 
you ! I was afraid you wouldn’t come, since you don’t belong 
to my kingdom properly. I have always wished that you 
were one of my very own girls!” 

“ Hello ! ” cried a voice outside. “ I ’m here, Mother 
Goose, but I had to hop all the way on one leg ! That shoe- 
maker would not send me back my left boot in time ! ” 

In came Hop O’ My Thumb himself, — a very tiny 
person, but wearing one huge boot. They all laughed at 
him, but he was evidently very popular, and the children made 
up their minds to read all about him just as soon as they could 
possibly get home. 

More and more Make Believe persons came, until it seemed 
beyond all things wonderful that they were all able to get 
into Mother Goose’s tiny cottage. But of course in Make 
Believe Land all things were possible, and as a matter of fact, 
in recognising that, our three children had learned their last 
and greatest lesson. 

When all the guests had arrived, they had a country dance 
on the grass outside. The sun was setting, and the light was 
lovelier than any evening glow that poet or artist ever saw in 
the real world. The forest shadows mingled with the gold 
and crimson glory streaming in from the wonderful distant 
West, and the flowers in Mother Goose’s garden seemed to 
glow like little rainbow lamps, to light the feet of the dancers. 

196 


MOTHER GOOSE ONCE MORE 


And such a funny dance as it was ! Klang and Tinkle got 
out their queer little lutes, and some sad-eyed Necker appeared, 
and a host of sprites and elves of all kinds took their places as 
the musicians of the occasion. And when the dance began, 
there was the oddest assortment in the way of partners that 
you could imagine. 

Bab danced with her old friend the Sand Man, Meg with 
Mudge, — dear little scaly Mudge ! — and Dick with Cross 
Patch. Humpty Dumpty danced with Princess Star, of course, 
and Mother Goose with the Sea Kobold. Bizzybuzz had the 
Old Woman who Sweeps the Cobwebs from the Sky for a 
partner. Puss in Boots had the Sleeping Beauty, and the other 
Beauty danced with Hop O’ My Thumb. The Three Little 
Bears paired off respectively with Cinderella, Alice in Wonder- 
land, and Lady Gray-Wing. Moon-Eyes and the Owl Inn- 
keeper were allotted to Snow White and Rose Red. One of 
the three Jacks — the one who was accustomed to giant- 
killing — danced with the Wooden Cow, and the other two 
were very well content with Rapunzel and the Fair One with 
Golden Locks. The so-called “ Beast ” flirted gaily with the 
fairy with whom he danced, and the Dragon-Fly hummed 
cheerfully as he followed the measures of the dance with 
another merry elf. The Red Squirrel also danced with a 
fairy. 

At last, as the sunset radiance faded, and the stars peered 
out far above, the music waned and died, and the guests, one 
by one and two by two, began to slip away, with a word of 

197 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


thanks to Mother Goose, and a kindly farewell to the three 
mortal children. 

Those who were their own particular friends expressed a 
hope that they would all meet again some day ; the others 
merely said that they were glad that they had met. 

Off among the dim woodland spaces drifted the Make 
Believe folk, and Mother Goose and the children returned to 
the little cottage, lighted warmly yet softly by the flickering 
blaze from the fireplace. 



198 


XVIII 

At Last 






































CHAPTER XVIII 


At Last 

ND then Mother Goose called them to the 
table, where supper was already waiting, and 
they began to eat. The children were very 
hungry, and it seemed to them that they had 
never had such good things to eat in all their 
lives. But afterward when they tried to re- 
member what they had had, they found that was a misty blanks 
Then after supper they sat around the fire, and Mother 
Goose got out her spinning-wheel and sang to them all the 
dear, wonderful, foolish songs that every child knows — or 
ought to know. 

And she made a song about the rescue of Humpty 
Dumpty. You have all heard it, but don’t you wish you 



201 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


could have heard it when it was first made up, as Bab and 
Meg and Dick did, by the cheerful little fire in Mother 
Goose’s cottage? 

This is the way it went, and she spun as she sang : 


14 Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall ; 

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall ! 

Not all the King’s horses, nor all the King’s men 
Could ever put Humpty Dumpty together again ! 

— I’m glad to say,” she added, smiling. 

“ Mother Goose,” said Dick, rather shyly, “ do — do you 
think that we could be pardoned now for — for not believing 
in — in — Make Believe things ? ” 

“ I ’m sure of it,” answered Mother Goose. “ You are 
no longer stupid little unbelieving children, with dull eyes 
and deaf ears, — you have learned to believe in the most 
wonderful things in any world — which are the Make Believe 
things, — and you will be thankful all your lives. And do 
you know whom you have to thank for all this ? ” 

“You,” said Dick. 

“ Santa Claus ! ” suggested Bab. 

“The Fairy Queen?” questioned Meg. 

Mother Goose shook her head. 

“ In Make Believe Land,” she said, “ there are many 
kingdoms, and we are all rulers in our own way. But over 
us all is placed a great and wonderful Queen. She is the real 
ruler of Make Believe Land.” 


202 


AT LAST 


“ Oh, who is she ? ” cried all three children. “ Can’t we 
see her before we go ? ” 

“You have all seen her,” replied Mother Goose. 
“ Guess, if you can, who she is ! ” 

They thought hard for a moment. 

“The Idle Princess!” exclaimed Bab. 

“ Dreams-Come-True ! ” cried Meg. 

“ The Fairy of Fancy ! ” guessed Dick. 

Mother Goose smiled approvingly at them. 

“Well guessed!” she said. “For you are every one of 
you right ! ” 

“ Why — what — how — ” gasped the three. “ Is she — ” 

“ You must have guessed that she was the lady who 
appeared to all of you,” said Mother Goose. “ You all saw 
her when you were in Santa Claus’s sleigh.” 

“We had forgotten!” they declared. “We were so 
excited! Oh, Mother Goose, was she the — ” 

“ She takes a great many shapes, this great Queen of 
ours,” said Mother Goose. “ Indeed, she says that no one 
knows, nor ever will know, her real name. Sometimes she 
wears a ragged dress, and often she forgets her crown and 
leaves it at home ; but whether she is an Idle Princess, or a 
Lady of Dreams-Come-True, or a Fairy of Fancy, — she is 
always our beloved lady, — whom I hope you will know and 
love, too, all your lives long, — the dear, immortal, young, 
ancient girl-queen of Make Believe Land.” 

“Shall we see her again?” they asked in low voices. 

203 


HUMPTY DUMPTY 


“ That/’ said Mother Goose, with a little smile, “ de- 
pends upon yourselves. To those who love her she is always 
ready to come. But from those who forget her, or slight 
her, or try to live without her, she is careful to keep away. 
When you want her, she will be with you. Your eyes have 
been opened by your stay here, so that you will always be able 
to recognise her. Many people in the Real World meet her 
face to face, but do not know who she is. But in all times 
of great happiness or trouble, in all summer nights or snow- 
storms, and in all your dreams and hopes, and later in what- 
ever romance life may have thrown your lots, — you will see 
her in her green gown smiling at you from under her little 
crown of stars/’ 

“ Mother,” interrupted Bizzybuzz, respectfully, “ are 
the mortal children to go home, now that their work is 
done? ” 

“ Yes,” said Mother Goose, and looked just a wee bit sad, 
— “ yes, yes ! Of course they must go home ! Come, my 
children, come and kiss me good-bye ! ” 

She drew them all three into her arms, and kissed them, 
one by one. Then Humpty Dumpty and the Princess said 
good-bye, and Star cried a little. 

“ Oh, dear!” sighed Bab. “Shall we never come back 
to Make Believe Land any more?” 

“My dears,” said Mother Goose, “ I am going to tell you 
something which you may not understand for a great many 
years. But it is true all the same. The Real World, as it 

204 



THEY WERE ALL THREE BACK ON THE NURSERY HEARTH RUG 




























































































* 


























































AT LAST 

is called, is nothing at all but a very small corner of Make 
Believe Land ! ” 

Then she drew them once more into her arms, and held 
them close, and they felt themselves growing sleepier and 
sleepier, and the warm comfort of her arms seemed to wrap 
them round closely and happily. They felt as though they 
were in their mother’s arms at home, and they knew sud- 
denly that they had become nothing but little, little babies, 
and that their heads were nodding against Mother Goose’s 
breast. 

And as they lay so in her arms, she began to rock them 
softly to and fro, and croon the queerest, quaintest little 
lullaby to them. They did not know in the least what it was 
all about, but it was drowsy and motherly, and made them 
think of night-lights, and bath-tubs, and coverlids pulled up 
close and warm on winter nights. And then they knew that, 
whatever it was, it was what they always seemed to hear 
when their mother used to creep into their room during a 
thunder-storm, “just to see that they were all right and not 
frightened ! ” 

Held so in Mother Goose’s arms, they all dreamed — for 
they were almost asleep, you know — that they saw a night- 
gowned figure, stealing close and closer, lowering the light, 
and softly mending the fire; and a dear dream voice whispered : 
“Hush, darling, hush ! It’s only Mamma. Go to sleep.” 
And then came a kiss as light as a breath. Their minds 
seemed confused ; was it their own mother or Mother Goose ? 

205 



c 


HUM PTY D UM PT Y 


They never knew, for the next moment, and before they 
had time to decide, they were all three fast asleep. 

When they opened their eyes, — it seemed but one 
dreamy minute later, — they were all three back on the 
nursery hearth-rug. The fire was almost out, and N urse was 
just coming in. 

“ Bedtime, dearies,” she said. “ Have you been asleep 
already? ” 

The children looked at each other. 

Was it only fancy, or did they hear the faint whirr of 
Bizzybuzz’s wings as he flew away ? 












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